Patient Dies in ER as hospital delays medical screening until method of payment & insurance was determined
HOUSTON, TX
September 11, 2015
A lawsuit was filed against Doctors Hospital-Tidwell (also known as: United Memorial Medical Center) and a Houston Doctor, as they were more concerned with payment rather than saving the life of Baldomero Flores, Jr.
Hospital staff’s actions in direct violation of the Federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. Baldomero Flores, Jr's girlfriend witnessed hospital and doctor’s negligence.
The lawsuit was filed by Baldomero Flores, Sr.- father; Maria Flores - mother; and Mr. Flores, Jr.’s three minor children. The entire family is devastated by the loss of their son and father.
Doctors Hospital-Tidwell, its hospital staff and the nursing staff, delayed providing an appropriate medical screening examination and further treatment & examination in order to inquire about Mr. Flores, Jr’s method of payment and insurance status. This is a direct violation of the Federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA).
EMTALA is a statute which requires emergency care providers to stabilize & treat patients without regard for ability to pay. While Mr. Flores was dying from an anaphylactic shock, the hospital was most concerned about its payment. Melisandra DeLeon was Mr. Flores’ girlfriend and was present in the hospital during these events.
Mr. Flores Jr. died due to the hospital staff and nurses disregarding the significance & magnitude of Mr. Flores Jr’s symptoms and complaints throughout the emergency department encounter on December 26, 2013. Per the Harris County Medical Examiner, anaphylaxis was the sole cause of Mr. Flores’ death.
Along with the violation of EMTALA, this case illustrates the difficulty of the requirement to prove willful and wanton negligence in Emergency Room medical malpractice cases in Texas since tort reform in 2003.
"Now doctors and nurses can be negligent & kill people in the Emergency Room and not be required to be responsible to the family in money damages for the death of a loved one unless there is evidence of willful and wanton negligence rather than just ordinary negligence," said Les Weisbrod, a prominent, nationally-recognized malpractice attorney representing the Flores family as co-counsel with attorney Domingo Garcia.
Weisbrod continued, “The malpractice in this case is so awful that expert witnesses are willing to testify that there was willful and wanton negligence involved. Hundreds of Texans are killed by malpractice every year in Emergency Rooms and their families receive no compensation because of our onerous law which is not the same in the vast majority of other states.”
"To blatantly ignore the federal EMTALA statute is abhorrent. Mr. Flores was dying from anaphylactic shock, the hospital ER was empty but the hospital was concerned with the ability to pay. Ms. DeLeon witnessed the death of her boyfriend which she will never forget, This gross negligence by hospital and nursing staff is inconceivable and showed no compassion for this dying son and father,” attorney Domingo Garcia emphasized.