Patient-144
No Medical Care and None of His Prescription Medications for 8 days at Sunrise Hospital
Patient--144 is a homeless man who went to Sunrise Hospital. The hospital refused to provide medical care and ejected him from the Emergency Room. The patient died on the hospital's lawn. A medical malpractice lawsuit was filed.
If Sunrise Hospital had treated a homeless man's illness instead of ejecting him from the Emergency Room, he would not have collapsed and died on the hospital's lawn.
His family filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Sunrise Hospital saying that Sunrise Hospital's doctors, nurses and security guards fell short of their duty to care for the patient.
The attorney representing the family said "He died face down on the lawn of Sunrise Hospital."
"He died after being refused emergency medical services on two separate occasions. He suffered and died because Sunrise Hospital considered him too dirty and too poor to receive medical treatment."
The patient was only 34 years old.
A nurse recorded an elevated pulse and a fast rate of breathing. She also noted that his blood oxygen was low, and there was a cloudy film over his eyes.
Dr. Susan Meyer examined the patient and did not administer IV fluids or an oxygen tube, nor did she order any X-rays or blood or urine tests.
She ordered the patient be given juice and crackers and discharged.
Security guards ushered the patient out of the ER less than an hour after he had arrived at the hospital.
A nurse who was surprised at the discharge, asked Dr. Meyer about it. Dr. Meyer responded, "He's out of here."
The guards had to escort the patient to the edge of the property twice as he continued to insist he was sick. When his lips began to turn blue, a guard supervisor asked, "What's our liability here?"
The guards then took him around the corner to another part of the hospital grounds, where he collapsed and lay face down.
The supervisor told another guard to call Metro Police (LVMPD) and have him charged with trespassing.
The guards watched as the patient stopped moving.
It was an unidentified hospital employee on a smoke break who thought to check his pulse and found he had none. The patient was pronounced dead about an hour and a half after being ejected from the Emergency Room.
The autopsy report stated the patient died of lobar pneumonia --- his right lung filled up with fluid and he suffocated.
An expert witness testified that the care the man received was "appalling."
"This man was not well," the expert said. "Getting testing done to narrow down his illness really was required (and should have been done)."
A Las Vegas homeless advocate said, "People don't understand how disrespected homeless people are. This is just one example. He had an army of people against him and not one on his side."
She said many of the homeless people she knows have been tossed from emergency rooms when their health was perilous. What struck her about this specific case was how strenuous the hospital's efforts were to keep him out.
Patient-144 is a homeless man who went to Sunrise Hospital. The hospital refused to provide medical care and ejected him from the Emergency Room. The patient died on the hospital's lawn. A medical malpractice lawsuit was filed.
This is a stock photo of a patient laying on the ground outside a hospital.
Note to readers: This is known as "patient dumping" or "patient eviction." Read the story of Patient-129 to learn more about the practice of patient dumping by hospitals in Las Vegas.