How a patient walked into a doctor’s office with a cough… and ended up in a COMA for 42 days ‘thanks to a clumsy doctor’

Dr. Antonio Ocana, owner of Ocana Medical Center in Florida, was accused of negligence after his patient fell into a coma

A Florida man was in a coma for a month after his cough was ignored by doctors, a lawsuit alleges.

Rafael Cardona, 75, visited Ocana Medical Center in Tampa on January 14, 2019, with a sore throat, body aches and cough.

A lawsuit filed by Mr. Cardona does not specify “whether a physical examination was performed,” but the patient returned 10 days later with “a deep cough with chest pain and upper left back pain.”

According to the complaint, the clinic’s owner, Dr. Antonio Ocana, failed to conduct or document an evaluation.

Instead, he allegedly prescribed an Albuterol inhaler, the corticosteroid prednisone, and the painkiller Tramadol, based on what another doctor had told him.

When he was rushed to hospital a few days later, doctors discovered that Mr. Cardona had pneumonia and had developed sepsis.

Rafael Cardona, 75, was placed in a medically induced coma for 42 days after his pneumonia was ignored, causing him to develop sepsis (stock)

When Mr. Cardona returned the next day, the pain radiated to his left mid-back, and it became worse when he took a deep breath.

The complaint, obtained by the Miami Heraldsaid Dr. Ocana “signed the visit note” but “did not conduct a personal evaluation or document its conduct.”

The standard of care required that [Dr Ocana] to refer [Mr Cardona] for specialized or emergency consultation during the visit on January 24, 2019 or January 25, 2019.’

On January 28, Mr. Cardona was rushed to the hospital with pneumonia and sepsis, a condition that kills one American every 90 seconds.

This led doctors to place Mr. Cardona in a coma for 42 days. Because sepsis attacks healthy tissues and organs, a medically induced coma can help slow the damage.

And because about a third of all sepsis cases are discovered in a hospital, it could mean doctors having to admit mistakes and go to court.

Sepsis occurs when an infection causes an abnormal overreaction of the immune system, messing up the chemicals in the bloodstream.

Instead of sending infection-fighting white blood cells to attack a foreign invader, it targets healthy tissues and organs, such as the limbs, lungs, and kidneys, leading to organ failure and sometimes amputations.

Sepsis is responsible for 300,000 deaths and is the leading cause of hospital death in the U.S. And for every hour treatment is delayed, the risk of death increases by four to nine percent.

Mr. Cardona was also left with a lung abscess, a pocket of pus in the lung, usually caused by a bacterial infection such as pneumonia. If an abscess is left untreated, it can rupture and cause fluid to leak into the lungs, making it difficult to breathe.

According to the complaint, the medical negligence lawsuit against Dr. Ocana was settled in 2022, with Mr. Cardona receiving $237,500 from Dr. Ocana’s insurance.