BEAUMONT - On Friday, a Jefferson County jury returned a verdict of $2,979,523 against a local doctor and physician group in a medical malpractice case after a week-long trial, according to a case summary provided by The Daws Law Firm.
The wrongful death lawsuit was brought by the estate of Bobby Fosha and named Dr. John Lee of Nederland and the Steward Medical Group as defendants.
According to the case summary, on Oct. 23, 2018, Fosha, 78-years old, went to Dr. Lee, his primary care doctor, and was prescribed 40mg of Citalopram, an anti-anxiety medicine also known as Celexa. Within hours of taking the 40mg dose, Fosha became confused. Family members brought him to a local urgent care clinic, where it was determined that the Citalopram was likely causing his delirium. The family was instructed to reach back out to Dr. Lee. Dr. Lee informed the family it was likely the medication and agreed to lower the dose from 40mg to 10mg, saying he would go “low and slow” and that everything would be alright.
Dr. Lee never warned the family about the known side effect of having increased suicidal thoughts and never instructed the family to do a suicide watch on Fosha until his mental status improved, the case summary states.
Two days later, while the family was following Dr. Lee’s instructions and waiting for the delirium to clear, Fosha tragically took his own life, the case summary states.
The plaintiffs alleged that Dr. Lee prescribed too high of a dose of Citalopram. FDA guidelines indicate that people over 60-years old not be prescribed more than a 20mg dose and that increases should only be done 10mg at a time.
In trial, the plaintiffs were able to show that both the total dose and the increased amount were violations of FDA guidelines, the case summary states.
Attorneys Malachi Daws and Judson Daws represent the plaintiffs.