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Starnes & Atchison clears hospital in wrongful death action.
Billy Bates and Scott Salter recently obtained a defense verdict in a wrongful death action against a hospital in Jefferson County Circuit Court. The case involved an individual that presented to the emergency department with a shoulder dislocation. The emergency physician entered orders to proceed with reduction of the shoulder in the emergency department under conscious sedation. During the reduction procedure the patient vomited and aspirated. The patient subsequently died. The plaintiff alleged that the emergency nurses failed to obtain an appropriate history, failed to perform an appropriate review of systems, and failed to perform an appropriate physical examination prior to the performance of the conscious sedation. The plaintiff alleged that had the nurses performed a proper pre-procedure assessment of the patient that the conscious sedation procedure would not have gone forward in the emergency department. The plaintiff further alleged that the emergency nurses failed to properly assess and monitor the patient during the conscious sedation procedure. The plaintiff offered expert testimony that the emergency nurses breached the standard of care. The plaintiff further offered expert testimony that the emergency nurses' failure to perform a proper pre-procedure assessment of the patient lead to the patient's vomiting, aspiration and subsequent death.
The defense was able to prove that the nurses performed an appropriate history and examination. The defense was further able to prove that the patient was continuously monitored throughout the procedure. Additionally, the defense was able to prove that nothing the nurses did or failed to do in their care and treatment of the patient caused the patient's death. The jury returned a defense verdict in favor of the hospital.
The recoveries, verdicts, favorable outcomes, and testimonials described on this site are not an indication of future results. Every case is different, and regardless of what friends, family, or other individuals may say about what a case is worth, each case must be evaluated on its own facts and circumstances as they apply to the law. The valuation of a case depends on the facts, the injuries, the jurisdiction, the venue, the witnesses, the parties, and the testimony, among other factors. Furthermore, no representation is made that the quality of the legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.
