Legal Review & Commentary: Failure to notify leads to a $425,000 verdict in NJ
Legal Review & Commentary: Failure to notify leads to a $425,000 verdict in NJ
News: After presenting to the emergency room, a young man died. Though his discharge papers identified him and contained the name and telephone number of his parents, his parents were not made aware of their son’s death until they received the bill from the hospital 29 days after his death. The jury awarded the parents $425,000 for pain and suffering.
Background: The young man was found suffering from a drug overdose in the bathroom of a McDonald’s restaurant. He was taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital and died in the emergency room. There were discharge papers in his shirt pocket from a neighboring hospital identifying him as a recent parolee and gave the name, address, and phone number of his parents with whom he resided. But his parents were not told that he had been hospitalized and died. His body was sent to the county morgue and an autopsy was performed.
In the meantime, his parents had reported their son missing to the police and to his parole officer. The decedent’s parents had even contacted a psychic in the hope of learning of their son’s whereabouts. It was not until 29 days later that the young man’s parents learned of his fate. The news came with the hospital’s bill for services.
The parents brought suit against the hospital for violating hospital policy by failing to inform them of their son’s hospitalization and death when the hospital clearly had a record of the decedent’s name, address, parents’ names, and phone number. The case went to trial, and the jury awarded the parents with $425,000 in pain-and-suffering damages.
What this means to you: Even in the absence of clear medical professional liability, there may still be liability for the poor delivery of health care services.
"Although this is a case that has nothing to do with the practice of medicine, it has everything to do with the delivery of health care," notes Ellen L. Barton, JD, CPCU, a risk-management consultant, in Phoenix, MD. "All hospitals and health care facilities have a corporate responsibility to maintain a good system of communication not only between and among their independent medical staff and employed health care professionals and all other employees, including administrative staff, but also with patients and their families. In this case, the hospital failed miserably. While one might forgive a short delay in communication, the fact that there was never any communication is unacceptable and clearly below the applicable standard of care."
Hospital emergency rooms are busy places and are often the hub of life or death situations. While all efforts are made to save lives, the reality is it cannot always be done. And, in the cases of death, the facility should be prepared.
"Having policies and procedures in place not only regarding the procedure for contacting patients’ families but specifically assigning responsibility for the various tasks is critically important. In all likelihood, staff members assumed that someone else had done it. When everyone is responsible, no one is responsible. It may have been that the specific task of notifying family members of a death was not clearly assigned to a defined staff member. In this case, perhaps the emergency room social worker, should have been accountable," adds Barton.
"This case also points up the lack of communication between the billing department and administration or risk management or social work or patient relations, or whatever department might be charged with the responsibility of handling sensitive cases or simply cases where the patient has not survived. Perhaps the development of a policy and procedure to identify and address the issues surrounding billing in sensitive cases would go a long way in delivering quality health care," states Barton.
Reference
• Stephen and Janine Sante v. St. Mary’s Hospital, Essex County (NJ) Superior Court, Case No. L-9775-98. Michael Zerres, Esq., of Chatham, NJ, for the plaintiffs.
Subscribe Now for Access
You have reached your article limit for the month. We hope you found our articles both enjoyable and insightful. For information on new subscriptions, product trials, alternative billing arrangements or group and site discounts please call 800-688-2421. We look forward to having you as a long-term member of the Relias Media community.