[T]he mother and sister of a man who died at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington are suing the hospital, alleging malpractice.
Judith LaPoint and Lisa Napper say in their complaint that the hospital did not properly diagnose or treat Martin LaPoint, of New York, before he died at the hospital Feb. 18 from blood clots in his lungs.
Attorney Bob Hemley from the Burlington firm Gravel & Shea filed the civil suit in U.S. District Court on July 14. It accuses the hospital of three counts of malpractice. Hemley’s office declined to comment for this story.
Mike Noble, the spokesperson for the UVM Medical Center, said Tuesday the hospital does not comment on pending litigation. Lawyer Tristram Coffin, of Downs Rachlin Martin, who will represent the hospital in the case, declined to comment.
The suit says the hospital “deviated from the required standard of care in failing to properly diagnose and treat” Martin LaPoint before and after surgery and failed to diagnose or treat two blood clotting disorders before he died.
The lawsuit does not ask for a specific amount of money but says damages are more than $75,000. The filing doesn’t specify hometowns for Martin LaPoint or his relatives.
The suit says Martin LaPoint was 6 feet tall, weighed 342 pounds and was considered morbidly obese. He went to the UVM Medical Center emergency room Feb. 9 and reported a pain level of 10 out of 10 but was discharged and sent home, the complaint says.
On Feb. 11, according to the complaint, he went back to the UVM Medical Center emergency room “with acute worsening of his back pain, shooting pain radiating from his low back into his left leg, significant weakness of his left lower extremity, numbness in both lower extremities and urinary incontinence.”
That day, he underwent emergency surgery at the medical center, according to the suit. But the hospital determined he was at “low risk” for blood clots in his veins, which must be evaluated in postsurgical patients, according to the complaint.
Providers at the hospital declined to treat LaPoint for potential blood clots, the suit says, and was never re-evaluated to see if he should be treated for blood clots before he died a week later.
Between Feb. 11 and 16, Martin LaPoint “continued to present with diminished motor and sensory capacity in his lower extremities described as paraplegia and cauda equine syndrome, was ambulated only a few times, and had extensive pain,” the suit says.
By Feb. 17, according to the complaint, he had diminished breathing sounds in both sides, and a pain level of eight out of 10, according to the complaint, so he was prescribed oxycodone and did not receive additional testing.
The suit outlines a handful of other complaints that Martin LaPoint told doctors about his condition between Feb. 17 and his death Feb. 18. It says repeatedly, “Again, no further testing or transfer was done.”
