The death of a child in hospital is something that is dreaded by all hospital staff, yet it is a tragedy that occurred at Seattle Children’s Hospital in February 2020.

A 5-month-old baby named Elizabeth Vera Hutt died after contracting a mold infection from the hospital. She was born in August 2019 with a congenital heart condition and had to undergo many surgeries. What her parents didn’t know was that the hospital had closed four operating rooms on 18 May 2019 and another ten on 24 May 2019 after Aspergillus – a type of mold – was found during a routine air check. While the mold is relatively harmless to the ordinary person, it can be deadly if the spores take root in people with fragile immune systems.

In 2013, a 17-year old girl named Faith DeGrand filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the Detroit Medical Center Children’s Hospital of Michigan for a botched spinal surgery that left her paralyzed from the neck down.

Only 10-years old at the time, Faith required spinal surgery for her scoliosis. Unfortunately, what she got instead was a surgical error that caused her intense pain and further injury.

In 2012, a 48-year older man named Richard Shouldis informed his doctor that he was experiencing worsening symptoms of panic attacks, depression, fatigue, excessive worry, difficulty concentrating, and weight loss.

Richard was already taking several medications for anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances, yet his doctor failed to recognize that his depressive and self-destructive state was getting progressively worse. In fact, Richard’s family revealed that he was so agitated and disturbed in the week leading up to his suicide that his doctor should have immediately sent him to a psychiatrist or the hospital.

In 2011, Sonia Natera checked into the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center due to severe abdominal pain. This pain was so severe that Sonia couldn’t even lie down and walked to and from an examination room while in the company of a second-year resident. It was expected that Sonia was suffering from an ectopic pregnancy, and when she complained of dizziness, the residence left to find a more senior doctor for assistance. It was during this time that Sonia lost consciousness and fell.

Sonia sustained serious injuries as a result of her fall and had to undergo neck and elbow surgery, the cost of which caused her to pursue a medical malpractice lawsuit. According to her medical malpractice attorney, the hospital departed from good and accepted medical practice by allowing Sonia to walk, and then leaving her standing up unattended after that.

In 2003, Bee Gee’s frontman Maurice Gibb died at Mount Sinai Hospital from health complications that were causing him stomach pain. He had been in the hospital for three days and was scheduled to have an in-depth examination the following day. Sadly, his intestine burst and flooded his body with toxins that caused him to go into cardiac arrest and resulted in his death.

Following his death, Gibb’s brothers consulted with medical malpractice lawyers to file a medical malpractice lawsuit to take action against the hospital for hospital negligence. It was their belief that doctors did not detect that Gibb had a twisted bowel, which was further complicated by his admission into the VIP ward on the eighth floor, as opposed to the third floor where the hospital’s emergency equipment was housed.

In 1994, a young woman named Laura Gonzalez gave birth to a baby boy at Flushing Hospital Medical Center. Unfortunately, what should have been an event filled with joy quickly turned into tragedy when Laura’s son suffered severe brain damage as well as extensive mental and physical impairments due to hypoxia.

As a result of this birth injury, Laura filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Flushing Hospital Medical Center in 1995 and the on-call physician in 1996. She alleged negligence for not identifying the signs of fetal distress or responding to the signs of fetal distress in both instances. These two actions were consolidated for a joint trial in 1997. Had the surgeon acted timeously, Laura would have undergone an emergency cesarean section, which would have prevented her baby’s injuries.

In September 2001, famous sportswriter and broadcaster, Dick Schaap, admitted himself into a New York City hospital for a routine hip replacement surgery. Unfortunately, no one could possibly have predicted that he would never come home.

According to Trish, Dick’s wife, he had previously had a hip-replacement surgery, which he recovered from quickly and only needed to spend five days in the hospital. Naturally, Dick and Trish had no concerns going forward with the second hip-replacement surgery, especially since the surgery would be performed by the same surgeon at the same hospital.

In 2002, Megan Leston gave birth to a baby boy at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Unfortunately, her baby was born with a debilitating birth defect known as Cri Du Chat Syndrome that went undiscovered throughout her pregnancy due to the medical malpractice of Dr. Allison Boester.

Upon investigation, it was discovered that Dr. Boester departed from the standard of care expected from the medical profession by:

As reported in Rolling Stone on the 17^th of January 2018, the wife of Eagles co-founder and guitarist Glenn Fray filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Mount Sinai Hospital and the gastroenterologist who treated him.

According to Cindy Frey, Glenn’s widow, the gastroenterologist who treated Glenn was negligent when caring for him and failed to properly treat and diagnose his condition. Glenn died in January 2016 as a result of this, as he experienced complications from his rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis, and pneumonia. Apparently, Glenn’s gastroenterologist did not promptly and properly treat his ulcerative colitis and the other symptoms and diseases of his bowel that were presented. Additionally, he did not assess Glenn for respiratory issues, treat a notable infection, or hospitalize him promptly when he realized that something was wrong.

In February 2018, a man who does not wish to be named filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan for the death of his wife in what can only be described as a “freak accident” that never should have happened.

The victim’s husband reported that a psychiatric patient being treated at Bellevue Hospital was responsible for the untimely death of his wife. Despite being treated at the hospital and classified as a known risk, the psychiatric patient, named Melanie Liverpool-Turner, was prematurely discharged from the hospital. Documents show that Liverpool-Turner displayed several warning signs that indicated she was not yet ready for release and still posed a great threat to the public. Sadly, Liverpool-Turner pushed a woman in front of a subway car three weeks after her release, killing her instantly.