Earlier this week a wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuit was filed in D.C. Superior Court over allegations that “doctors at GW Hospital could have prevented a patient’s death after a spine surgery.” The lawsuit was filed by Sedrick Drayton, the son of the deceased patient, Lillie Ann Drayton and is seeking $15 million in punitive damages. But what happened, exactly?
Earlier this week a wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuit was filed in D.C. Superior Court over allegations that “doctors at GW Hospital could have prevented a patient’s death after a spine surgery.” The lawsuit was filed by Sedrick Drayton, the son of the deceased patient, Lillie Ann Drayton and is seeking $15 million in punitive damages. But what happened, exactly?
According to the 10-page lawsuit, Drayton claims the “Medical Faculty Associates, GW Hospital, and Warren Yu, the hospital’s director of spine surgery, proceeded with a surgery in 2015 without considering his mother’s health risks and then failed to properly monitor her ever-worsening condition after the operation.” These actions “contributed to post-operative complications and his mother’s death,” according to the suit. It goes on to state:
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“The defendants’ conduct … was outrageous, grossly fraudulent, grossly negligent and/or reckless towards the safety of decedent Lillie Ann Drayton and the community.”
The incident began back when Lillie Ann Drayton was admitted to GW hospital on March 24, 2015, to undergo a spine surgery. At the time the procedure had already been “delayed by a month because of a skin infection.” Prior to the procedure, tests revealed that her “white blood cell count was higher than usual and steadily rising, an indication of an infection,” according to the lawsuit. Despite her elevated white blood cell count and Lillie’s other health risks, “including the recent skin infection, hypertension, morbid obesity, diabetes and recurrent blood clots, Yu went ahead and performed the surgery.”
After the surgery, the lawsuit argues the hospital “failed to conduct tests and procedures to monitor Lillie’s ever-worsening condition, including pain at the site of the surgery, fever and neurologic deficits.” Additionally, Sedrick’s suit alleges that doctors failed to “schedule a timely MRI scan, which would have detected a spinal epidural abscess, an accumulation of pus that compresses the spinal cord.” This massive failure in diagnosing and treating the abscess resulted in Lillie’s “paralysis and other post-operative complications, eventually contributing to her death,” the lawsuit argues.
As if that’s not bad enough, the lawsuit also alleges that Lillie’s medical team never notified her of her “paralysis and did not inform her of material facts relating to her treatment, which would have prevented the injuries and damages listed in the lawsuit.” It also states:
“As a direct and proximate result of the occurrence, decedent sustained injuries which caused excruciating pain, mental anguish, suffering, paralysis, disability, damages, and death.”
At the moment, neither side of the aisle has returned requests for comment regarding the suit.
Sources:
Lawsuit alleges wrongful death, medical malpractice at GW Hospital
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