Wisconsin Woman Died Soon After Leaving Emergency Room
A daycare teacher who was waiting to be seen in a Milwaukee hospital emergency room passed away just a few hours after she decided to leave and try an urgent care facility instead. News reports distributed by CNN on January 17, 2020 say she sought emergency medical care at Froedtert Hospital after experiencing chest pains and shortness of breath.
According to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner report, after waiting more than two hours, the 25-year-old left and went to seek help at an urgent care. She then collapsed as she arrived at the facility parking lot, and was pronounced dead not long after.
- Arrived at the Froedtert Hospital emergency room in Milwaukee on January 2 at 4:58 p.m.
- She was there for 2 hours and 29 minutes.
- During that time, she got an electrocardiogram (EKG) and a chest X-ray that showed an enlarged heart.
- She was not admitted at this time and sent back to the lobby.
- Upset from the long wait and still feeling ill, she left the emergency room at 7:27 p.m. in hopes of receiving faster medical attention at a nearby urgent care.
- The woman then traveled with her sister to the urgent care facility but collapsed as soon she arrived.
- She was then transported back to the hospital in an ambulance.
- When she arrived at 9:07 p.m., she was unresponsive.
- She was pronounced dead at 9:25 p.m.
“She didn’t even have a band on her wrist … so she was never even processed in,” her sister, Brianna Ward, told a local Milwaukee news station. “All they did was take her to the back, do chest X-rays, send her back in the lobby. She was never even admitted.”
The woman’s cause of death was listed as hypertensive cardiovascular disease, and the manner of death was natural, according to the medical examiner’s office.
The Problem with Delayed Emergency Room Treatment
Not every long wait at a hospital represents medical malpractice, but this is a sad example of the lack of communication and fail of continuous care that occurs in busy emergency room settings or when patients feel they are too quickly dismissed. In this case, perhaps insufficient information was passed regarding the severity of her clinical status and the level of immediate care that was needed? Regardless, the failure on the part of the hospital staff and the doctors to adequately monitor and treat this woman could have ultimately led to her death since there are guidelines for very specific symptoms such as chest pain – which may not have been followed. Her family’s attorney is now responsible for identifying those facts.
Like Milwaukee, Chicago-area emergency rooms and urgent care centers are known for overcrowding, understaffing, and sometimes just poor care in general. Still, to prove medical malpractice, an attorney can help determine if someone responsible for providing health care acted negligently, and this negligence caused harm or injury.
Request Legal Answers from Knowledgeable Illinois Medical Malpractice Attorneys
Levin & Perconti is a nationally renowned law firm concentrating in all types of personal injury, medical malpractice, and wrongful death litigation. If you have questions about an emergency room or urgent care visit where a delay in treatment led to a severe injury or worse, a fatal outcome, we can help. The lawyers at Levin & Perconti are committed to protecting and vindicating the rights of people who are injured by the negligence of others. Please contact the firm at (312) 332-2872 to schedule a FREE consultation.
