7 Year-Old Chicago Boy Dies as a Result of Lack of Hospital Care
Our Chicago litigation attorneys know that Illinois medical malpractice cases can arise based on negligent actions health care providers take, but also when doctors and hospital workers fail to take action as well.
After a tragic series of events earlier this month, a Chicago family is left devastated after their seven year-old son died suffering an asthma attack. According to ABC News, the young boy was taken to three different hospitals in the 11-hour span following his attack, and the lack of proper care contributed to cause his death.
Asthma is a common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways that gives its sufferers trouble with respiration, and often appears in the form of short, yet serious, fits in which the patient has exacerbated difficulty breathing.
The boy, who regularly suffered from asthma, had the asthma attack at his suburban home earlier this month. His parents initially took him to St. James Hospital in Olympia Fields, where they were told that the hospital did not have the proper equipment to treat his condition. Instead, the hospital transferred him to St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights, where he was hospitalized for almost eight hours.
Nevertheless, St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights ultimately determined that they, too, lacked suitable tools to treat the boy so he was transferred once again to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Joliet; according to ABC News the trip is a 45-minute stretch in Chicago rush-hour traffic, and there are numerous hospital facilities much closer to which he could have been transferred.
Allegedly when the ambulance team arrived for the victim’s final transfer, they found him to be extremely unstable, and questioned whether he should be moved at all.
During the ambulance trip to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Joliet, the boy’s respiratory system shut down. Although paramedics tried to insert a breathing tube it didn’t work, and the boy was pronounced dead at the hospital in Joliet. ABC News discloses that a nurse's narrative stated that the boy’s last words were, "I am tired of breathing."
In Illinois medical malpractice cases there is what is known as the doctrine of Lost Chance. The Lost Chance rule allows families of victims to recover when a healthcare provider’s negligent actions or lack of actions deprive a patient of either the opportunity to get better or to avoid future harm. Doctors and nurses are under a duty to do their best to care for their patients, and when they negligently or recklessly create a situation that leaves the victim worse off, they can be held liable.
That seems to be the case in this unfortunate set of circumstances. Instead of keeping the young boy in a stable hospital environment or planning to transfer him to a nearby hospital, health care workers deprived him of the chance to be treated and make a full recovery from his asthma attack. In situations like this, the results can be devastating.
Our Illinois personal injury attorneys understand how devastating it is to lose a loved one as a result of another person’s negligence. If you have suffered as a result of negligent treatment by a nurse, doctor, hospital, or other health care provider, an attorney may be able to advise you of your rights under the law.
