Several news sites, including The Herald News for the Chicago Sun Times, have reported that a lawsuit has been filed in regards to a young asthmatic boy, whose death may have been prevented had one medical care facility - instead of the three he had been sent to - had taken responsibility for his emergency needs.
A.P., 7 at the time of his death on September 13, 2010, while traveling by ambulance in rush hour, allegedly told a nurse that he was, "...tired...of...breathing."
S.P., the boy's mother, accompanied him in the ambulance. She stated that it was the third hospital, in eleven hours, that he was going to for help with an asthma attack that was getting progressively worse.
Two hospitals, before the final 45-minute ambulance ride, told his parents that A.P. had to be moved to a facility that was better equipped to manage his condition.
In the lawsuit, it is contended that after the family drove to Joliet's Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center, their boy's brain was "starved for oxygen" and he later died.
The family charges that gross negligence by medical professionals - in not treating the asthma attack properly - caused their son to die unnecessarily.
The lawsuit is filed in Cook County Circuit Court.
Some of the questions brought up in the lawsuit are: Was the patient stable before transferring? Why would a child having an asthma attack be subjected to three hospital transfers in just under 12 hours?
And lastly, why was he transferred the final time to a hospital 45 minutes away?
The suit alleges that there were closer facilities that could have taken care of the child.
S.P. said, "Who would send a sick child almost an hour away? That's crazy. All I knew was we needed to get him there as soon as possible and get him help. I don't understand why they didn't say something. As a parent, you know, we don't know. We go with what the doctor says. The doctor knows best. I'm just trusting that he's putting my child in good hands."
During the long ambulance ride, A.P. required - per emergency technicians - paralyzing drugs and, a tube had to be inserted to aid his breathing.
The family's attorney, Joseph Miroballi, said, "Intubating a 7-year-old is difficult in the best of circumstances, much less in an ambulance. It's a disaster waiting to happen. It's a formula for death."
Named in the suit are the St. James Hospitals in both Olympia Fields and Chicago, Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center, Kurtz Ambulance Service, Dr. R.G. and Dr. J.D.
A spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health, Melaney Arnold, stated, "It's up to the physician and the family to decide if they want to transfer a patient to another hospital. If a family says, 'no,' we want to do it here, then, yes, they can remain at their hospital. It's up to the physician and the family."
The family has alleged that since they are Medicaid patients, that they were given neither choice in staying at any of the first two hospitals, nor information as to how long it would take to get to the third hospital.
To this Arnold said, "It's not supposed to be that way."
A.P. suffered with bronchial asthma. He had been fine the day before his death, celebrating his father's birthday with family, and woke up with an asthma attack.
If your child has been harmed, or has died, due to the negligence of a physician or hospital, contact a medical malpractice attorney right away. Making a right from a wrong may alleviate some of your suffering, and prevent others from a similar fate.