Articles - Medical Malpractice

Lawsuit blames Wesley in death ::
(11 17, 2005)

Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2001
BY RON SYLVESTER

A Wichita man with chest pains waited more than an hour in the hospital's emergency room before he died, his family says.

Wesley Medical Center is facing more accusations of understaffing in a lawsuit that claims delayed care resulted in the death of a 55-year-old Wichita man.

Patricia Lee, who said her husband sat for more than an hour in the Wesley emergency waiting room with chest pains before he died of a heart attack last winter, sued the hospital in Sedgwick County District Court.

It marks the third Court action in six months claiming that inadequate staffing levels affected patient care at Wesley.

Carl Fitch, Wesley's chief executive, said in a prepared statement monday that he smpathized with the Lee family "as they seek to deal with the loss of their loved one." Fitch pointed out that Wesley recently was named one of the top 100 cardiac and stroke hospitals in the nation by Solucient, a health information company. Solucient's ratings are based on 1997-98 data of discharged Medicare patients.

Wesley officials declined to answer further questions.

The Wichita hospital has paid nearly $4 million in malpractice settlements since July. Previously, only eight malpractice settlements in Kansas topping the $1 million mark were recorded in the National Practitioners Database during the past decade -- all before 1995.

Although the amounts of settlements are available to the public, the identities of the parties often remain confidential. The only way the public usually finds out about them is through open court records.

The cases against Wesley don't dispute that the hospital has many qualified health care workers. But the lawsuits contend the medical center keeps its staffing at such low levels that overworked employees can't properly tend to their patients.

The latest suit involves contentions the hospital failed to respond to a patient with urgent symptoms of heart problems.

Richard Lee had started wearing a patch to quit smoking three weeks before his daughter Cindy found him nauseated and complaining of chest pains the afternoon of Jan. 5, 2000, family members said in interviews.

That evening, Cindy and her mother took Richard Lee to Wesley's emergency room. After they explained his symptoms, they were told to have a seat and wait for insurance verification, according to the suit.

Hospital admission records obtained by the Lees show he arrived at 8:42 p.m.

After waitingfor an hour and 38 minutes, the hospital records show, Lee went to an examination room. One minute later, Lee collapsed, then died.

"To me, they basically just let him die," Patricia Lee said.

She said that her husband didn't have a history of health problems and that he rarely missed work in his 35 years at KGE.

"The last time I remember him being sick was 1972 with the Hong Kong flu," Patricia Lee said.

After Richard Lee collapsed, Patricia said a nurse screamed repeatedly for help but no one came. Patricia Lee said she ran out in the hall and began hollering for help before any other medical help arrived.

"We knew that night something had gone wrong," Cindy Lee said.

In his written statement, Fitch said: "We are sorry that the family of Mr. Lee is not happy with the care their loved one received. Unfortunately, I am not able to discuss the patient's care or the family's allegations in the press."

Brad Prochaska, the family's lawyer, said in the lawsuit that Lee's death came as a result of "the emergency department of Wesley Medical Center being unnecessarily and significantly understaffed."

Prochaska also represented Shirley Keck, the Wichita woman who won a $2.7 million settlement in July. That case claimed nurse understaffing was responsible for Keck's slipping into a coma that left her with permanent brain damage and needing constant care.

That became one of the first cases in the nation to successfully claim that staff shortages create risks to patient care.

The settlement was the largest Kansas malpractice payment on record since 1993. Doctors and hospitals across the United States are required to report malpractice settlements to the National Practitioners Database.

But unlike most lawsuits in the health care industry, which include confidential payments sealed by the courts, the Keck family refused to settle the case without public disclosure.

Then in October, Wesley paid out more than $1 million to the family of Josie Nowak, a 5-year-old who remains confined to a wheelchair and struggles with developmental disabilities. In that case, the Wesley staff was accused of not properly documenting drugs the little girl had taken before she received anesthesia and went into cardiac arrest during a routine procedure.

Although the Nowak case was settled under seal, The Eagle learned the basics of the agreement from a doctor not bound by the gag order.

In both cases, settlement money is being dispersed to trust funds to pay for the victims' care.

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