Family Files Suit Against Doctor And Clinic For Woman's Death

The family of a deceased woman has filed suit against the doctor and clinic where she underwent treatment for a sprained left ankle, claiming they are to blame for the fatal personal injuries she suffered nearly seven years ago.

According to the suit they filed in Illinois’ Madison County Circuit Court on February 11, James J. Greco and minors Taylor Rose Marie Greco, Heather N. McKaig, and Nicholas J. McKaig’s wife and mother, Tamara Kay Greco, died because of a blood clot blocking her coronary artery.

Shortly before her death, Greco, 38, had twisted her left ankle and foot on April 30, 2004. She visited defendant Dr. Bruce Vest Jr. and was diagnosed with a sprained left ankle. Vest placed an equalizer brace on her foot and told her to return to defendant Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Clinic if she experienced further problems.

On May 5, 2004, Greco reappeared at the clinic complaining of pain in her left ankle and foot and numbness in her toes, according to the suit. Doctors prescribed Bextra and refilled her prescription for Vicodin, then allowed her to leave without evaluating her vascular status or providing her with anticoagulant therapy.

Two days later, Greco died of a bilateral pulmonary thromboemboli caused by the immobility of her left foot, according to the suit.

The plaintiff’s claim that because of Greco’s death, they have incurred funeral expenses and lost her services, companionship, comfort, instruction, guidance, counsel, training, and support.

The suit alleges negligence on the part of the defendants for failure to provide Greco with an anticoagulant therapy, failure to warn her of the risk of deep vein thrombosis, failure to consult with a specialist in vascular therapy, failure to warn her of the dangers of deep vein thrombosis because of her immobility, failure to obtain a history of her lack of mobility when she visited the second time, and failure to obtain a sonogram of her lower venous system.