Massachusetts Hospital Doctors Settle Med Mal Suit for $4.5M

Two Massachusetts General Hospital doctors have agreed to pay $4.5 million to settle a malpractice lawsuit brought by the family of a Plymouth woman died at the hospital.

Benjamin Novotny, a lawyer for the family of Geraldine Moran, 62 when she died in March 2005, said the physicians failed to take measures that might have prevented the death.

Moran was taken to MGH after falling off a 6-foot ladder. Doctors found one of her ribs had cracked in such a way that its sharp tip was close to her aorta.

Novotny tells The Boston Globe instead of treating her right away, the doctors kept her overnight and in the morning the rib punctured the aorta and she died.

The hospital said in a statement it believes the doctors acted appropriately.