Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in Missouri

My question involves my father. He recently passed away, due to what I believe were complications caused by the hospital.

My dad was 89 years old. He was diagnosed with ALL (acute lymphocytic leukemia) on April 29, 2009. He chose to take treatments, and was given a PICC line to administer the chemo. After two treatments, his oncologist said he believed that my dads cancer was going into remission and that he was improving. I must add that my dad was no 'typical' 89 year old. He looked and acted like he was in his 50's. He had a few other health problems, but they were under control and he was actually a very, very healthy man before this came about. After his second chemo treatment, he had to be admitted into the hospital to receive blood and platelets. While he was there, the lines that ran to his PICC line got hung on the bed, and when he got up to use the restroom, they were pulled out. He was sent home and nothing was done to repair it. When the time came for his third chemo treatment, the doctor didn't feel comfortable about the placement of his PICC line and wanted a new one put in. On June 21, 2009, my dad went to the outpatient center of the hospital to have his PICC line replaced. He walked in fine and felt fine as well. After the procedure, he had to use a wheelchair to return to the car. He couldn't breath and he felt very weak. Two hours later, he was running a 103.5 degree fever and back in the ER. They did a blood culture on him to reveal that he had staph growing in his blood. They did a culture through his PICC line a week later and determined the PICC line was contaminated with MRSA staph, and that was how he became infected. The PICC line was removed and my dad was put on strong antibiotics. He was recovering, but the day after he finished his round of antibiotics, July 9, 2009, he became sick again. He started running a fever and had to go back to the ER on July 12, 2009. They then discovered he had pneumonia. From that point on, he went down hill, and a week a two days later he passed away, July 21, 2009. The pneumonia he had was MRSA staph, which was the same strand that came from his PICC line. I know that my dad was old, and that he had a disease that further complicated the staph, but he lost his life due to the hospitals negligence. This hospital has had legal problems before with the same issues. I am wondering if this would even be worth our time to find a lawyer to represent us, and try to get some kind of settlement. If there is any kind of information about this, I would greatly appreciate it.

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Asked on 8/03/09, 1:52 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

J. Matthew Guilfoil The Guilfoil Law Group, L.L.C.

An attorney in our office handles these types of cases exclusively. Please do not hesitate to contact our office for a free consultation. Medical negligence is a complicated area that takes some time to explain properly. Best Regards, Matt Guilfoil

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Answered on 8/04/09, 3:51 pm


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