De Jesus-Congdon’s tragic ordeal began on Oct. 18, 2016, when she visited Swedish’s First Hill Emergency Department complaining of a sudden and severe headache and mild nausea, according to court filings. Following a CT scan that was reviewed by Clark and interpreted as normal, De Jesus-Congdon was released from the hospital with a diagnosis of a headache. Five days later, on Oct. 23, 2016, she returned to the emergency department with continuing complaints of a headache and vomiting. The emergency physician ordered an MRI to investigate for possible stroke. Once again, the MRI imaging was sent to attending radiologist, Clark, working next door in a remote office, who interpreted the scan as “normal.”
However, the MRI was not normal. According to court documents, it showed obvious subarachnoid hemorrhage, or SAH, which is a life-threatening type of stroke, usually resulting from a burst blood vessel or aneurism. The suit notes that if Clark reported an SAH, the attending physician would have immediately called in a neurosurgeon to intervene and treat De Jesus-Congdon, instead of discharging her with a diagnosis of a headache once again.
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“Although Dr. Clark later acknowledged that the MRI results clearly show the hemorrhage, and that he ‘should have caught it,’ this admission was too late for Mrs. De Jesus-Congdon and her family,” said Gellatly. “She should have been prepped for brain surgery, not sent home and told to take some aspirin.”
De Jesus-Congdon even returned to the emergency department on Oct. 30, 2016 for a third visit. Yet again, the attending physician specifically relied upon Clark’s MRI report stating there were no abnormalities, according to the suit. Just three days later, De Jesus-Congdon collapsed in her home and was rushed to Harborview Medical Center, where testing revealed she suffered a massive stoke.
“It’s devastating to know that if the radiologist had just identified the clear signs of stroke, Isabel could have undergone a routine procedure that would have likely allowed her to recover with full health,” said James Congdon, De Jesus-Congdon’s husband, who pursued the case along with their two daughters. “The settlement enables us to hold Swedish and the medical providers accountable, and to cover the expenses involved in my wife’s care. However, for Isabel, our girls and me, there is no way to ever recapture the life we once had. We continue to live this tragedy every day.”
Throughout the case, plaintiffs argued that although Clark was employed by Seattle Radiologists, which merged with Inland Imaging to form Integra Imaging, he was serving as an attending radiologist under contract at Swedish Health Services, making the health system liable for his negligence.
