My 19 year old son went to the Doctor for a cough. he was diagnosed with Bronchitis. given Steriods, an inhaler, and antibiotics side effects to the antibiotics are abdomanal pain, nausea, and diareaha. he went to the emergency 2 days later with those same symptoms. he was diagnosed with a bladder infection after a cat scan. he was given a cathiter and kept over night. they gave him morphine for pain (pain level was a 5 on a scale from 0 to 10). he had 2 hits of morphine in 20 min. he had an allergic reaction. so they gave a drug called Narcan to counter the Morphine (2 doses of Narcan in 20 min.) his heart rate jumped to 200 and over. so they gave him a drug to slow his heart rate. it slowed to 45. He died of an enlarged heart. from the first dose of Morphine til his death was 6 hours. What should I do?
2006-09-04 10:19:32 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
An Autopsy was done and in the Report the Patholigist Questioned the use of Morphine.
2006-09-04 10:35:49 · update #1
Talk to a lawyer.......You can file a wrongful death suit within so many months....first year that he died i believe.....and if the lawyer thinks you have a strong case then...go for it.....i would get 2 opinions from 2 different lawyers.......I'm sorry for your loss.....I lost my brother in a hospital b/c some stupid nurse gave him his meds and went off duty and when another nurse came on saw that he missed his meds in the chart and gave him another dose (the first nurse forgot to put it in his chart).....My brother was not conscious just got our of surgery. we are still fighting this good luck.......best wishes
2006-09-04 10:22:59 · answer #1 · answered by Do I know you? ya right LoL 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They had no idea of his alergy to the drug(s). However, I would contact a lawyer. Seems like the Narcan would also counter the other drugs he was given AND the drug to slow his heart rate, even though it was given after the Narcan. I'm very sorry for your loss.
2006-09-04 17:24:44 · answer #2 · answered by david w 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Talk to a plaintiff's attorney who specializes in medical malpractices cases.
I think he would want an autopsy done as soon as possible. I think he would also want drug testing done. He needs to verify the cause of death and needs to determine what drugs were used and how much of each, not relying on what the doctors or hospitals claim.
In order to prevail in this type of law suit, the attorney has to show that doctors did something or failed to do something that an ordinary, reasonable prudent doctor would have done under the same circumstances.
You have my sympathy.
2006-09-04 17:29:02 · answer #3 · answered by regerugged 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If you and the hospital had no clue that he was allergic to Morphine, then there is no way they could have predicted what his reaction would be. It sounds like they tried everything they could to help with the allergic reaction. Some times people die from allergic reactions, and it's nobody's fault.
I really don't think you have a case. Sorry
2006-09-04 17:30:36 · answer #4 · answered by DontPanic 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
shouldn't you be asking a lawyer this.. sounds like it. they Overdosed him on morph to begin with. 5 five on teh pain scale isn't enought o warrant morphine
2006-09-04 17:33:22 · answer #5 · answered by TimeWastersInc 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋