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Rikki Dascal, Esq. obtained a settlement on behalf of an 18-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who was wrongfully suffocated and ultimately passed away due to nurse negligence. Up until her untimely passing, our client was wheelchair bound, used a tracheostomy to assist with breathing, required a feeding tube, suffered from significant cognitive delays that required homeschooling, and required total assistance with her daily activities due to her diagnosis of cerebral palsy.
Due to the severity of our client’s co-morbidities, two years prior to her passing, our client’s doctors determined that she required more comprehensive care, so she was provided additional attention with 24-hour nursing and home care. Consequently, two nurses worked separate day and night shifts so that our client had full-time care every day. As part of our client’s daily care, she required a dose of albuterol every six hours to ensure that she could breathe properly.
However, on the day of our client’s tragic passing, for the first and only time, a different nurse was assigned to care for her during the day shift.
According to the defendants’ nursing notes, at 2:00 pm, our client’s nostrils were flared, and she was showing ongoing signs and symptoms of acute respiratory distress. Our client’s symptoms continued as she exhibited signs of shallow breathing for the next three hours.
Unfortunately, by 5:30 pm, our client was in extreme distress and was suffering from hypoxia, so the nurse tending to her called 911. Upon review of the defendants’ nursing notes, the Jacob Fuchsberg Law Firm discovered that the nurse failed to administer our client’s prescribed dose of Albuterol, which was needed for her respiratory issues. Unfortunately, despite the extraneous circumstances, our client’s mother was not immediately notified of her daughter’s life-threatening symptoms. Eventually, our client’s mother was notified of the severity of her symptoms and immediately rushed home. Upon her arrival, our client’s mother witnessed the defendant nurse attempting to administer oxygen using an Ambu pump; however, the pump was not connected to oxygen. As a result, our client was not receiving any oxygen, which further worsened her condition. The autopsy report corroborated this claim as it noted the cause of death was asphyxia due to an occlusion in her breathing tube, and the manner of death was a therapeutic complication.
The Jacob Fuchsberg Law Firm filed a wrongful death lawsuit, which alleged that the defendant nursing company, through its employees, failed to care for our client according to the accepted form of care by neglecting to timely and properly provide suctioning to the tracheostomy tube, and failing to properly maintain our client’s tracheostomy. The complaint further alleged that the defendants failed to timely and properly recognize and address the abnormal signs and symptoms. As a result of our client’s negligent care, she tragically passed away at 18-years-old.
