23-Year-Old Dead After Being Left Alone In The Emergency Room: A recently filed Connecticut medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit filed by the mother of a 23-year-old man who was left alone and not checked on by medical staff during his seven hour stay in the emergency department of Yale-New Haven Hospital after being transported by ambulance following ingestion of a white substance laced with fentanyl alleges that the man arrived at the hospital by ambulance at 7:13 p.m. and was placed on a stretcher in the ambulance bay. No one checked on him between 7:15 p.m. on May 10, 2021 until 1:56 a.m. on May 11, 2021.
Security video from the hospital reportedly shows that at some point the man got up from the stretcher to use the bathroom and later got up again to get a snack from the vending machine. The man was also seen on his cellphone, talking with his mother. Later, the security video reportedly shows the man falling asleep and medical personnel walking by him without checking on his condition. When a nurse finally checked on him at 1:56 a.m., he was found with no pulse, his skin was blue-gray, and his pupils were fixed and dilated. Subsequent imaging and labs reportedly showed that he had sustained a severe anoxic brain injury secondary to prolonged lack of oxygen from cardiopulmonary arrest.
A spokesperson for Yale-New Haven Hospital stated that they were aware of the Connecticut medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit having been filed: “However, even in the best organizations gaps in care may occur. When they do, our goal is to acknowledge them, learn from them, and ensure that we minimize any chance that they ever occur again. We have offered our sincere apologies to the family of the patient and are working towards a resolution.”
The distraught mother stated: “The next morning, we called the hospital for an update but we couldn’t get any details. My last conversation with Billy he said everything was going to be OK and he would see me tomorrow but tomorrow has never come for us.”
Her son reportedly had ingested a white powder that was given to him at a gathering of friends in a park that he suspected had been laced with fentanyl. By the time the ambulance arrived, fire department personnel had already given him naloxone and he was walking, talking, and was alert. Nonetheless, he was transported by ambulance to the Yale-New Haven Hospital emergency department for medical monitoring to prevent toxicity recurrence.
If you or a loved one have suffered serious harm or death as a result of hospital negligence in Connecticut or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a Connecticut medical malpractice attorney, or a medical malpractice attorney in your state, who may investigate your hospital medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a hospital medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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