Jury Awards $5 Million to Bowdoinham Man After Walk-In Clinic Misses Sepsis, Sends Him Home With Flu Diagnosis

On December 26, 2018, Joshua Desjardins drove to the Mid Coast Hospital walk-in clinic in Brunswick, Maine, reporting a sore throat, chest pain, shortness of breath, and a cough. His temperature was 103.1 degrees Fahrenheit, his respiratory rate was 24, and his pulse rate was 130. The physician assistant who evaluated him ordered a rapid influenza test, which came back positive, and sent him home with ibuprofen, Tylenol, cough medicine, and instructions to return if symptoms did not improve within ten days.

What the clinic did not order was a chest X-ray or lab work. Desjardins's vital signs were consistent with sepsis in addition to influenza, but no further workup was done and no transfer to emergency care was arranged.

Three days later, his condition had deteriorated to the point that he returned to the Mid Coast Hospital emergency department. A chest X-ray showed bilateral pneumonia. He was diagnosed with severe sepsis and acute respiratory failure, intubated at the bedside, and flown by LifeFlight helicopter to Maine Medical Center in Portland. Desjardins was placed on life support, where he remained for 31 days. During that time he suffered more than ten strokes caused by blood clots, leaving him with permanent neurological deficits, lung scarring, and diminished hearing.

Berman and Simmons attorney Travis Brennan filed suit against Mid Coast Hospital and BlueWater Emergency Partners LLC, the company that contracted physician assistants to staff the walk-in clinic. At trial, Brennan argued that the PA's failure to obtain basic diagnostic studies and to recognize the warning signs of sepsis fell below the standard of care, and that Mid Coast Hospital bore vicarious liability under the theory of apparent agency because patients had no reason to know the clinic was staffed by an outside contractor.

The two-week trial in Cumberland County Superior Court, the first civil jury trial held there since early 2020, concluded on September 26, 2022. The jury returned a unanimous verdict, initially awarding Desjardins more than $7 million for medical expenses, past and future pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress, and permanent impairment. The jury also found that Desjardins bore some comparative fault, reducing the award to approximately $5 million. No remittitur or post-verdict reduction by the court was reported.