An Indiana jury awarded $1.5 million this week to a Bloomington couple whose son died due to an emergency room physician's negligence. In August 1996, Shakir Mustafa and Nawal Nasrallah took their 13-year-old son, Bilal, to Bloomington Hospital's emergency room to have him treated for severe headaches. The attending doctor, Gregory Moore, gave the teen a common migraine medication, which worked only briefly. When the headaches returned, Bilal's parents insisted that Moore order a brain scan, but the physician refused because of the boy's scheduled meeting with a neurologist the next day.

After being discharged from the hospital for only a few hours, Bilal's headaches returned. The teen was rushed to the hospital once again, where he was seen by a neurologist who found a blood collection in his brain. He died a short time later. Bilal's parents filed a medical malpractice suit against Moore and Bloomington Hospital.