Hospital suit dismissed

One lawsuit in a negligence claim that apparently led to the permanent injuries and pain for a woman was dismissed.

Helen Clary Michie filed two suits in the Third District Court Sept. 3, 2013. The first was against the Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County Board of Trustees, Terry Donaldson M.D., and Sweetwater Medical Group, a Wyoming nonprofit corporation. That case was recently dismissed with prejudice.

The second suit was against Kindred Nursing Centers West, LLC, Kindred Healthcare, doing business as Sage View Care Center. This case has since been modified to only name Kindred Nursing Centers West, LLC.

Both suits stemmed from the same incident.

According to court documents, Michie complied with all rules of the Wyoming Medical Panel Act of 2005 and found out that the Medical Review Panel dismissed her claim on Aug. 8, 2013.

Michie decided to file the claim in the court after hearing about the dismissal.

Michie, who is legally blind and an autistic was under the care of SVCC. As a paying client SVCC was contractually obligated to meet her needs including, but not limited to "she needs stand by/set-up assistance and prompting for bed mobility, transfers, dressing, toilet use, and personal hygiene; assist to the bathroom each morning, afternoon evening and during the night if needed."

Court documents state on June 2, 2011, Michie was walking with her cane down a hallway at SVCC to go to the nurses' station when she tripped over a scale and fell into the floor, allegedly causing injuries.

Michie called her mother and told her what happened. Her mother then instructed the employees at SVCC to take Michie to the hospital. Four to five hours later, Michie was taken to the emergency room and one X-ray was taken of her arm. No abnormalities were noted and she was given Tylenol for the pain.

After returning to the SVCC, Michie called her mother again and told her what happened.

Her mother once again instructed the SVCC staff to take her daughter to the hospital for further review. One more X-ray was taken and no abnormalities were found.

Michie returned to SVCC and called her mother. Shortly after that, Michie mother arrived at the center, signed her out and took her to the University of Utah Hospital emergency room.

The University of Utah Hospital noted Michie had a broken nose, fracture to her ulna and a torn rotator cuff of her right arm.

On June 13, 2011, Michie was released from the hospital.

Her mother then discovered Michie had a prolapsed colon when helping her in the bathroom at home.

Michie claims Dr. Donaldson, an employee of the hospital and Sweetwater Medical Center, was negligent and fell below the standard of care including, failure to take an accurate and detailed pertinent history, failure to perform a focused, detailed examination and failure to timely diagnose and properly treat Michie's prolapsed colon.

Michie claims SVCC was negligent and fell below its standards of care when it left the scale unattended, failed to remove the scale and put it away, failed to protect frail, vulnerable people, failed to provide adequate and timely medical attention, failed to notify a physical promptly after Michie's fall, failed to keep residents safe or free of avoidable accidents and failure to discover Michie's prolapsed colon.

Michie claims as a result she was forced to undergo extensive medical treatment and extended recovery from her fall and prolapsed colon.

Michie is asking the court to grant her medical expenses in excess of $30,000, future medical expenses; past, present and future pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life, permanent disability and anything else the court deems fit.

 

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