The parents of a 5-week-old baby who died allegedly as a result of medical negligence have filed a federal Medical Malpractice wrongful death lawsuit in the District of Guam against a health center, a physician’s assistant, and other unnamed defendants after the physician’s assistant diagnosed the infant as having colic when the child allegedly had pneumonia that caused his death shortly thereafter.

The baby was full-term when he was born healthy on August 26, 2011. The baby was deemed to be in excellent health during his one-month, well-baby checkup. Then, on October 1, 2011, the baby began crying in an unusual manner, refused to feed, and coughed up a small speck of blood, according to his parents’ Medical Malpractice Wrongful death lawsuit. The concerned parents brought their baby to an urgent care center when their son developed rattling and a grunting sound when he breathed.

The parents allege in their Guam medical malpractice lawsuit that they waited for an hour in the urgent care facility during which time their baby’s breathing deteriorated before the defendant physician’s assistant entered the room, examined the baby, and declared that the baby had simple colic. Desperate and concerned about the rapidly deteriorating condition of their son, the parents pleaded with the defendant physician’s assistant to call an ambulance to transport their ailing son to the emergency department of Guam Memorial Hospital, which the defendant physician’s assistant allegedly refused to do.

Instead, the mother had to drive her son to the emergency room where her son died in her arms while waiting hours to be seen by the emergency room medical staff. An autopsy reportedly found slight traces of pneumonia in the baby’s lungs.

The parents’ medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit filed in federal court alleges that the defendant physician’s assistant never advised them that she was not a doctor, and that the physician’s assistant was not medically qualified to treat their 5-week-old son. The malpractice lawsuit further alleges that their son was not treated in a timely manner and that the defendants deviated from approved medical practices and negligently failed to treat their son with the degree of skill, diligence, and attention used by and expected of clinics and hospitals.

The parents originally filed their petition for arbitration pursuant to the Guam Medical Malpractice Mandatory Arbitration Act (“Act”)  but subsequently filed their medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit in the federal court in Guam, seeking to have the arbitration requirement under the Act be deemed unconstitutional.

The parents’ federal medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit seeks general damages for emotional distress as well as damages for medical expenses, funeral expenses, incidental expenses, the costs for arbitration, and punitive damages for alleged fraudulent acts.

Source

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