Earlier this month in Louisiana, a woman filed a lawsuit against a local healthcare company alleging that the company provided her husband with faulty medical equipment leading to his death. According to a report by a local Louisiana news source, the woman’s husband was undergoing home dialysis for a kidney condition. Da Vita, Inc. was providing the equipment for the treatments.
One day, the man called Da Vita, explaining that he could not stop the machine’s cycler and the procedure lasted almost two hours longer than it should have. The company did not offer any assistance to the man.
The next day the man left for a fishing trip and collapsed within 15 minutes of leaving home. He eventually died. Doctors determined that the man had low levels of vital nutrients in his blood.
The man’s wife filed suit against Da Vita and others, claiming that they provided her husband with defective medical equipment. The defective equipment, she claims, ran too long and caused her husband to suffer a loss of vital nutrients in his blood. She also claims that the manufacturer and the distributer should have provided adequate instructions on how to operate the machinery.
The woman is seeking monetary damages to cover her husband’s medical expenses, pain and suffering, mental anguish, fear of death, and funeral expenses, as well as her own loss of consortium, loss of companionship, and loss of income and support.
Wrongful Death Actions in the DC Area
The Louisiana case described above is not particularly unusual. Many times each year across the DC area, medical supply companies either deliver the wrong machinery or deliver a defective model. This puts the patient at severe risk for serious injury or death.
The reality is that these medical supply companies are extremely busy and have hundreds of calls and deliveries they must make each day. In some cases, a technician will cut corners, whether it be failing to double-check an order sheet or failing to conduct the required inspection of the equipment.
When these kinds of oversights result in the injury or death of a patient, the medical supply company can often be held liable for its negligent actions. In many cases, this can result in a sizable monetary award for the victim or the victim’s family.
Have You Been Injured By a Medical Supply Company’s Mistake?
If you or a loved one has recently been injured by a mistake made by a medical supply company, you may be entitled to compensation. To learn more about the laws in the DC area that allow for the victims of medical supply accidents to recover, contact the DC area personal injury law firm of Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers. The dedicated accident attorneys at Lebowitz & Mzhen have years of experience recovering for their clients and know what it takes to succeed in wrongful death actions in the DC area. Click here, or call 410-654-3600 to speak to an attorney today.
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