South Carolina Personal Injury Law Firm Blog

Woman Dies After Six-Hour Emergency Room Wait, Parents File $2 Million Lawsuit

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

A 25-year-old graduate student died while waiting for treatment at Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield, Oregon, reports the Associated Press.  Her parents have filed a $2 million wrongful death lawsuit against the PeaceHealth hospital group.

According to records, the young woman went to the hospital’s emergency room around noon on December 23, 2008.  After a triage evaluation listed all the symptoms indicative of a pulmonary embolism, she was classified as a Level 3, on a triage scale of 1 to 5, and told to wait for a physician to evaluate her.  At 6:30pm the doctor saw her and strongly suspected she had a pulmonary embolism and ordered a CT angiogram to confirm his diagnosis.  The scan was never done due to her declining condition.

At 7:15 pm she went into cardiac and respiratory arrest and was pronounced dead at 9:30 pm.

The lawsuit contends the long wait to see a physician proved fatal for their daughter.  They seek $500,000 in economic damages, $500,000 for their daughter’s pain and suffering, and $1 million for the loss of their daughter’s society, support, services, love and companionship.

Wrongful death is a death caused by the carelessness or misconduct of another person or organization – including failure to act to avert a death.  The attorneys at Louthian Law are dedicated to helping families of wrongful death victims.  Contact the Louthian Law Firm today at 1-866-410-5656 or online for a free evaluation of your case.

Wrongful Death in Oregon ER

Labels: WrongfulDeath

Posted by Your Lawyer 9:00 am