• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Suing a hospital for negligence (or wrongful death)

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

J

juliajulia

Guest
What is the name of your state? Georgia

I am new here and wanted to give a hello before I launched into my situation. Bear with me as this will be a bit long; I'll do my best to make it as short as possible.

A little background - this situation involves me, my ex-husband and my son. Paul and I were married and had one child (Corey). We divorced in 1991 when Corey was about a year and a half old. From that time up until Paul's death in July of 2002, we always got along. In fact, people were surprised we were divorced since we did things together with our son and spent holidays, etc., together. Paul lived with his father and his father thought Corey hung the moon. Corey was very, very close to his father and Paul's father.

On to the meat of the story. In October of 2001, Paul's father died of basically old age (he was 83). Naturally, Corey was devastated as he loved his grandfather very much and had a very special relationship with him.

Around the beginning of the year 2002, Paul was having some medical problems; he was tired all of the time, bruised easily and his back would hurt all the time. To save time of having to go into detail of all the tests they did, in the end, in June of that year it turned out that he had Leukemia. Needless to say, we were all shocked and worried. He was in a Macon hospital for 6 weeks and he was truly amazing. He actually felt bad being on the cancer floor with other very sick patients because he went through the 6 weeks as if he weren't sick. Corey and I went to see him every day after I got off of work during those 6 weeks and he never ceased to amaze us with his enthusiasm as if nothing were wrong with him.

He finally was in remission and so was allowed to go home on July 13, which was a Friday. The nurses were to give him final instructions before he left the hospital on how to manage his major artery catheter. I was not able to leave work to be there to hear the instructions and bring him home, so a good friend of ours brought him home. Oh how I wish now that I had left my job to hear his instructions because any time the doctor was in the room when Corey and I were there I asked many questions about the Leukemia and took notes.

Paul's sister and I were waiting for them when they got home and it was such a relief for him to be back in his own home, his own environment. Corey came home from school and we had a nice evening with Paul. I went home and for the rest of the weekend Corey stayed with his dad. Corey deserved to have some alone time with his dad since they were so close, so on Saturday and Sunday I called to check on Paul.

On Monday, about 6:00 p.m., Paul's sister called me and said that they are taking Paul to the emergency room. I went to pick up Corey from Paul's house and on the way to the hospital he told me what happened.

Paul had taken a shower and had covered up the area where the catheter was inserted in his chest with tape (that the hospital gave him). When he was finished with his shower and came out of the bathroom he told his sister he thought that he had cut the line of the catheter when he was removing the tape (scissors were also provided for this by the hospital). He then started to feel funny and asked Corey to get him some water. Then he said to Peggy that he was having a hard time breathing and maybe they should call 911.

When the ambulance got there, Peggy said she told them that he cut his line but they never checked it.

Once we were there, they allowed all the family members in the emergency room with Paul (he was unconscious by this time and on monitors). There were 6 of us there, with at least 3 in the room at all times (we would leave to go smoke, use the restroom, call family, etc.). The ENTIRE time we were in there we constantly told the nurses and the doctors that he had cut his line but not ONCE did they ever check the catheter.

There are other details I can give about when he arrived (blood pressure high, etc.) and other things that happened while we were in the room with him, but in the end, he died at about 1:00 a.m.

Devastation can not even describe what we all felt that night. Corey was out of his mind (he was 13 at the time). He had lost the 2 most important men in his life in a span of 9 months. It was more devastating because Paul had only been out of the hospital for 3 days after going into remission from the Leukemia. It was more than any of us could handle. Paul had many friends and was a good man and father. His death was senseless.

My question is - if the entire time we kept telling the doctors and nurses that he cut his line and they never checked it, can they be sued for wrongful death or negligence (I'm not sure of the difference in the two). I have done some VERY extensive research on air embolism (that was the cause of his death) and there were many things the doctors and nurses could have done for air embolism that they absolutely did NOT do.

We do understand that even if they did those things, he still could have died, but the fact is, they didn't even listen to us nor did they perform any of the medical procedures that could have possibly saved his life. We obtained a copy of the emergency room notes and having had several nurses, doctors and paramedics look at it, they have shown us many inconsistencies in the procedures that were given to Paul.

Do we have a case at all?
 


R

ResIpsaLoquitur

Guest
Death from air embolism

Do you have a viable medical malpractice claim against the hospital? No, except on behalf of your son. Paul's adult next of kin - individually and/or as Executor of his will or Administrator of his estate - might; if the statute of limitations hasn't run out - which I believe it has. I wrote this big long reply without looking at your dates and Ellen (who is ill this afternoon) pointed out to me that Georgia's SOL for medical malpractice is two years. there are provisions that can allow up to five years if the negligence is not discovered within the two, but that doesn't seem to be the case here as you describe it. The best thing to do is contact a med mal attorney in your area. . . .

Ellen - who does have a lot of experience with venous and arterial lines and catheters also had these thoughts:

"It is standard procedure to send a patient home with instructions and supplies on how to care for venous/arterial catheters; and, I highly doubt the ER ignored the arterial catheter (which was more likely a central venous line going into the right atrium). Such a catheter would be of primary concern, not just for diagnosing what happened but in administering any fluids or obtaining any labwork. It is more likely that whoever reviewed the records does not understand the method of charting of events. Charting is now designed to make it extremely difficult for a reviewing person to understand the events and findings."

I wish you and your son the best.
RIS

(Thanks for keeping me awake, Ellen ;)
 
Last edited:

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top