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The Indiana Supreme Court will hear a case involving the alleged medical malpractice by a hospital in Gary after a man claimed he had his leg amputated due to the damage caused by a nurse’s placement of an IV catheter.
Oral arguments will take place at 10 a.m. on Jan. 23 at the Supreme Court Courtroom. Arguments will be streamed online.
According to court records, in July 2015, Hetep Bilal “Franklyn” Neter-Nu was taken to the emergency room at Gary Methodist Hospital for nausea and vomiting and received fluids and medications while under the hospital’s care.
During his stay, a nurse placed an IV in Neter-Nu’s right foot. Neter-Nu later complained of pain in that foot and the IV was removed.
After approximately three days in the hospital, his pain seemed to improve, and Neter-Nu was discharged, according to court documents.
Days later, Neter-Nu went to another hospital in Iowa, where an examination showed no blood flow to his right foot. In mid-August, he underwent a below the knee amputation.
Neter-Nu filed a complaint with the Lake Superior Court against Dr. Zainab Abbas, Dr. Clive Alonzo, nurse Morgan Mittler and the hospital, claiming his leg was amputated because of the damage caused by Mittler’s placement of the IV. Alonzo was later dismissed from the case.
A jury trial was held and the court returned a verdict against the defendants in the amount of $11 million.
Defendants requested the verdict be reduced to the statutory maximum of $1,250,000, and Neter-Nu requested prejudgment interest.
The court ordered the defendants to pay prejudgment interest of $79,993 and entered judgment against them in the amount of $1,329,993.
In reversing the lower court’s order, the appellate court found the trial court erred in instructing the jury.
“The jury should have been permitted to consider the evidence regarding the rate and severity of the worsening condition of Neter-Nu’s foot and whether his failure to seek treatment earlier under the circumstances was reasonably foreseeable,” Court of Appeals Judge Elaine Brown wrote in a June 2024 memorandum.
The appellate court also found that there were other cumulative errors in the case.
The supreme court granted transfer of the case in December.
The case is Zainab Abbas, M.D., et al. v. Hetep Bilal Neter-Nu, 24S-CT-435.
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