An Arizona medical malpractice lawsuit alleges that the undocumented, uninsured status of a patient led to the failure to provide timely appropriate care, which led to his death. The Arizona medical malpractice lawsuit alleges violation of EMTALA (the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which requires hospitals with ERs to stabilize and treat patients with medical emergencies, regardless of their ability to pay), violations of the federal and Arizona constitutions, violations of Arizona laws, and medical malpractice.
Forty-seven-year-old Ociel Ponce Perez went to a local urgent care clinic on July 30, 2022, complaining of a very painful rectal abscess. He was sent to a hospital emergency room where he had a CT scan after which his abscess was drained. He was given opioid painkillers and sent home with antibiotics. His widow’s Arizona medical malpractice lawsuit alleges that the treatment he received was inadequate in light of early signs of gangrene allegedly shown in the CT scan, his increased risk for a bad outcome due to pre-diabetes, and his release from the hospital without being stabilized and without being given clear follow-up instructions.
After his condition deteriorated at home over the following five days, he was seen by a doctor who sent him back to the hospital emergency room where he was found to have Fournier’s gangrene, hyponatremia, and diabetic ketoacidosis. He was flown to a hospital in Idaho Falls where he died the next day before he could be flown to a higher level of care hospital in Salt Lake City.
The defendant hospital has responded to the lawsuit by alleging, in part, ““[Perez] was provided thorough emergency medical care and treatment. At best, the Complaint states a claim for medical malpractice under state law by second-guessing the medical decision-making of several physicians. EMTALA does not require hospitals to provide comprehensive healthcare but rather necessary stabilizing treatment for an identified emergency condition. In short, it requires an emergency department to complete a medical screening examination on a patient within the capabilities of the hospital and stabilization of a patient with an emergency medical condition prior to discharge or transfer,” and that there are no requirements to cure or permanently stabilize patients but only to ensure they are stable during transfer or discharge.
With regard to the constitutional claims, the defendant hospital argues that the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the 14th Amendment do not apply in this case because there is no actual right to healthcare that the hospital infringed upon because that right only applies to those in custody by the state, like inmates.
If you or a loved one have been injured as a result of medical malpractice in Arizona or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find an Arizona medical malpractice attorney, or a medical malpractice attorney in your state, who may investigate your medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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