Confidential Settlement – Death of man from neglect in emergency room

When someone goes into an emergency room they do that because their condition is serious enough to get immediate, emergency care.  Nobody deserves to be neglected when they go to an emergency room.  But that’s exactly what happened to our client, who died when he was ignored.

A 68 year-old man died in Brevard County when his blunt abdominal trauma was neglected by the hospital and trauma physician.  He bled to death after receiving treatment too late to save his life.  He sat in  the emergency room for over 45 minutes until he went into shock and was finally treated. He was just left to sit and bleed internally until it was too late.  John Elliott Leighton represented the man’s surviving wife and obtained a confidential settlement with the hospital for its failure to promptly assess and treat this man.

The lesson from the case is that patients cannot rely on the hospital staff to properly assess them; they have to be vocal and ideally have a patient advocate (family or friend) with them to insist on being seen right away.  This in no way excuses the utter neglect by the hospital here, who simply ignored the man until it was too late.

 

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