Posted on 02/27/2010 6:07:23 PM PST by BykrBayb
MIAMI (WSVN) -- A young mother died when, a lawsuit claims, she was taken off life support without her family's permission.
It was supposed to be a day of joy for the Francois family. Twenty-six-year-old Caroline was giving birth to her third child at a local hospital.
The baby was born fine, but the next day things went terribly wrong for the young mother. "Her blood pressure remained high and continued to remain high," said the family's attorney, Loreen Kreizinger. "As a result of her uncontrolled hypertension, she had a bleed to the brain, which happened the next day after the baby was born."
Caroline was put on life support. "It's terrible," said Kreizinger. "It's probably one of the worst things I've personally ever experienced as an attorney, and I am also a nurse."
According to the lawsuit, after Caroline was put on life support, the local hospital called the University of Miami organ donor program. An employee of the donor program went to the hospital and tried to meet with the family. "Mr. Francois never spoke with them and never gave consent," said the family's attorney.
But despite that, the lawsuit against the University of Miami claims that same employee, who is not a medical doctor wrote physician's orders in Caroline's chart which read: "Patient pronounced brain dead at 16:16 hours," and, "Please discontinue all treatments including the ventilator."
"We have evidence that he physically entered the room and actually turned off the ventilator," said the lawyer.
Court testimony supports that shocking allegation. Caroline's respiratory therapist was asked in a deposition, "Who physically took Caroline off the ventilator?" The therapist replied, "That's a gentleman from organ procurement."
In Caroline's chart, her nurse wrote the employee from UM "turned off vent," referring to the ventilator.
No one is saying why this employee might have pulled the plug, but Caroline's doctor is very clear. In testimony, her doctor was asked, "Did you yourself at anytime make an assessment that Caroline was brain dead?" The answer: "No."
"We have evidence that Caroline began to breathe on her own, both by a computerized respiratory printout and by handwritten notes of the respiratory therapist," said Kreizinger.
Asked if she was implying that Caroline was breathing on her own and still taken off life support, the family's attorney replied, "That's right. That's what we're saying here."
The University of Miami denies the allegations in the lawsuit, saying, "This defendant specifically denies that it, or anyone for whom it could be held legally responsible, caused or contributed to Caroline Francois's death."
"It certainly is the University of Miami's position that there were four determinations of brain death prior to disconnection from ventilator," said University of Miami attorney Helenemarie Blake. "There is an issue of fact as to who disconnected the ventilator, if at all."
In court Thursday, University of Miami attorneys tried to get the judge to strike Caroline's nurse from the witness list. That nurse allegedly witnessed who turned off the ventilator. The attorneys say they have not been able to locate that nurse to depose him. The judge has denied that request.
Exactly...Our attorney was very upset when we would not sign a living will ...
We had a hospice nurse who was determined that my mom would go out on her watch. THANK GOD she said something that made the nurse being relieved to mention what she said to me. The evil one was outta there within two hours. Mom left us the next morning on her own.
The kicker is that the evil nurse could’ve OD’d my mom and gotten away with it. The way the prescription was written is what saved her @SS. We so wanted her license!
*********************
Yes, it is.
Same happened with mom in the hospital as she was dying of cancer. They just let her suffer when my sister went home for a rest. So all the sisters took it over 24/7.
We are like you - we take care of our own and trust no one. Americans don’t have equal standards and ethics anymore and you never know who you are dealing with. Empathy and compassion are not a given anymore.
I am glad your dad had good care. I had nightmares for months after my dad passed.
I agree with you.
Too bad you couldn’t take down the nurse.
I’m really sorry about that. What I’m afraid of is that bad care is the future for me and all of us.
Ditto. I just do everything I know about to stay healthy. I will be eligible for medicare in 3 years, but I don’t expect to get any benefit from it.
It looks like family might have to take turns watching their loved ones 24/7 when this kind of thing happens.
When my husband had the stroke, I stayed with him 24/7. They kept him in the emergency room all day and overnight. I slept on the floor. When they moved him to a room, I still didn’t leave. I continued to sleep on the floor, until eventually they provided me a bed. I kept this up after he moved to rehab, and when he went to the nursing home. I would go home to shower and take care of household matters a couple times a week. I kept the dog with me, and nobody ever complained. Well, there was that one nurse who was afraid of her, but they quickly moved her to another ward. LOL. Can you imagine being afraid of a Shih Tzu puppy, less than a year old?
Back to the point. I stayed with him around the clock, and made it very clear his life had great value, and nobody better try to harm him in any way. I appreciated how well they treated him, and I made sure they knew it. I shutter to think what may have happened to him if I hadn’t learned the things I learned in the wake of the murder of Terri Schiavo. I’m convinced he wouldn’t have survived his first night.
We went as far as we could. They protect their own. She didnt’ even have to show up.
A couple times, the charges mention "The issue of death was material to Mr. Jacobs’ decision." My initial response was "Well duh. Nobody would consent to having organs harvested from their child while he was still in recovery." Then I thought about some of the nasty comments I've seen on Free Republic in the debates about the right to life. There are still people posting here who think it's right to call somebody a turnip and kill them just because they have a brain injury. I've seen a couple people talk about having a hand in the deliberate killing of their own family members, because they have a brain injury or disease. I'm sure these parents are typical in their love for their son, but unfortunately there are some people whose love is conditional.
A couple times, the charges mention "The issue of death was material to Mr. Jacobs’ decision." My initial response was "Well duh. Nobody would consent to having organs harvested from their child while he was still in recovery." Then I thought about some of the nasty comments I've seen on Free Republic in the debates about the right to life. There are still people posting here who think it's right to call somebody a turnip and kill them just because they have a brain injury. I've seen a couple people talk about having a hand in the deliberate killing of their own family members, because they have a brain injury or disease. I'm sure these parents (Michael and Teresa Jacobs, not the handful of people who would kill their own over a brain injury) are typical in their love for their son, but unfortunately there are some people whose love is conditional.
ping
I am really sorry.
We’ve left it with God - HE will take care of whatever needs taking care of...
” I stayed with him around the clock, and made it very clear his life had great value,”
Wow, and you did this alone. My family and I took turns staying overnight with dad at the nursing home, on the tough nights, but at least we all got to rest in between, but yes, I would do the same for my husband if no one else could help.
I love this about your post: “made it very clear his life had great value,”
I got to rest. I didn’t stay awake the whole time. : ) I lived with him, just like I did before the stroke, except I didn’t have to cook or clean, and strangers kept coming in the room at all hours.
Seriously, there were many adjustments to be made, but any trouble I had sleeping wasn’t because I was there with him. If I hadn’t been able to stay there with him, I don’t think I would have slept a wink.
Our families were there to help as much as they could. Some of them came from several states away to help out. They were all a very big help. But eventually, everybody has to go back to their jobs, kids, etc.
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