A 63 year old, indigenous patient presented in a rural ER with complaints of severe headache. After a brief triage, he waited in the waiting room for 7 hours before being seen. At the time of his examination, the patient was exhibiting signs of intoxication and a blood alcohol test was ordered by the resident, on his own initiative, after a 10 second assessment. The BAC test did not return in the usual 60 minute timeframe because the lab technician was taking a nap. The patient was left alone until he was observed walking with significant difficulty to the bathroom. He complained of dizziness and was helped back to bed by a newly hired nurse

The new nurse failed to raise the bed rails because the mechanism was sticky and she had not yet learned the "trick" to making the sticky rail lift. The nurse was called away to another patient before giving a second thought to the bed rail because she was also covering for another nurse who had called in sick. As it happened, the patient fell out of bed, fracturing his hip. Hip surgery was performed 2 days later. The patient's post-operative course was unremarkable. He was discharged by a resident without consulting the attending physician contrary to hospital policy. The consult was not made because the physician was not physically in the hospital, but on call. The physician had a reputation for becoming angry when he perceived that he was being bothered unnecessarily during his off hours.

It was not noticed until pain persisted 6 weeks later, that a surgical sponge had been left inside the patient. The sponge led to a staph infection which was not promptly recognized and progressed to osteomyelitis of the symphysis pubis. There was evidence of a staph outbreak on the ward around the time of the surgery and testimony of sporadic adherence to the handwashing protocols by the treating physician. The Plaintiff now has limited mobility and chronic pain. He was not employed at the time of the hospital treatment, but he maintains that his employment prospects are significantly reduced because of his current condition.

It was later determined that the patient had suffered a stroke at or about the time of his presentation to the ER. The stroke was not a severe one and resulted in some moderate tremor of the patient's non-dominant hand.