Is This Malpractice?
I, 45m, recently lost my wife, 35. Obviously, this is a crushing, devastating and horrible event that honestly, I still am not handling well. I've come here to see if there is something legally wrong with how she was treated.
First, let me say that around Thanksgiving, my wife started not feeling well. Nothing alarming, overall, but she had some coughing, weakness and a bit of a lack of an appetite and an upset stomach. We figured it was just a bug or something along those lines. After a few days of not getting any better, we started to become a bit concerned. She was experiencing what she called brain fog and wanting to sleep every couple of hours butgthe started having labored breathing.
I am in a wheelchair and unable to drive so we decided to call 911. The paramedics showed up and took her in to the hospital. While at the hospital, they put her in the waiting room where she continued to have trouble breathing and at one point, as she was going outside to cool off, she tripped over a wheelchair that was in the waiting room. After about an hour, they took her back and started to examine her. The doctor said, "Oh, I can smell the infection on your breath. You have Strep throat." With that, the examination stopped and they administered an antibiotic shot and discharged her with prescriptions for antibiotics and ibuprofen.
Over the next 2 days, she was taking the meds as prescribed but she was still getting worse. As the night came, she had suddenly forgot how to open a door and she kept saying I was 36 years old. I called 911 again. This was too scary. So the paramedics show up again. Check her vitals and then say, "You're fine. All you need is rest. If you're still worried in the morning, go to an urgent care" and with that, she came back inside yet struggled to breathe and sleep throughout the night.
The next day, it was more of the same but now she had forgotten how to make a pot of coffee and later, how to dress herself. So instead of having an uber take her to an urgent care with her brain acting this way, we call 911 again. Again they came out and again checked her vitals and yes, again, say all she needs is rest and to go back inside. So she does. The rest of the day and in to next, we are scared. She is telling me that she doesn't want to die but then puts faith in what the ER and subsequent interactions with the paramedics have told her, That she's fine.
Come the nighttime, she has now forgotten how to open and close water bottles properly, she's not eating, nor is she urinating. I start to call 911 and she collapses. I help her up the best I can, and she collapses again. I get back on with 911 and get the paramedics back who this time show up with a supervisor and immediately, she is put on a gurney and taken to the ER.
over the next 3 hours at the ER, her hands and feet turned purple and she was intubated, as they said, to control her breathing. 24 hours later she was put in the ICU. Her organs were shutting down and They found she had Sepsis but could not tell why. After I told them that she had a problem with a tooth in mid-november, they checked the heart and found endocarditis and her Aortic valve was deteriorating.
They attempted dialysis to get her kidneys working while administering antibiotics. Their goal was to stabilize her blood pressure so they could replace her valve. They were never able to raise it enough. 6 days later, while in a coma, they performed an MRI which showed a countless number of strokes had occurred while she had been intubated. She died in the early morning hours the next day.
Are the ER and/or the Paramedics at fault here? Her organs were still working up until the last day.
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