Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Family of homeless man loses suit against hospital

A Clark County jury unanimously ruled on Wednesday night that Sunrise Hospital was not responsible in the death of a homeless man despite refusing to treat him and forcing him out of the emergency room 10 years ago.

The homeless man, Rodolfo Anguiano, died two and a half hours after he was first admitted to the hospital. He repeatedly asked to be treated for pains but was refused further care by the hospital staff.

The jury also found that the doctor who quickly assessed Anguiano and discharged him from Sunrise's emergency room, Dr. Susan Meyer, did not cause his death when she decided that Anguiano did not need further medical care.

Although the jury ruled that both Sunrise and Meyer's treatment of Anguiano fell "beneath the standard of care," it ultimately decided that the family should not be awarded any money for Anguiano's death.

Earlier in the day, Brett Carter, a lawyer for the family, asked that the jury award Anguiano's family $3 million in damages.

Carter said the lawyers and family will review their options and decide in the future if they will file an appeal.

"I'm shocked by the verdict," Carter said. "It's a sad day."

Carter, who has been involved in this suit for at least five years, said that the national trend toward tort reform influenced the trial's outcome. That movement favors business or corporate interests over suits brought by personal injury lawyers.

The family of Anguiano expressed obvious disappointment with the verdict but said they predicted that the jury would likely side with Sunrise because of its size and perceived influence.

"We kind of knew it would lean to this verdict," said Sophia Anguiano, Rodolfo Anguiano's 21-year-old daughter. "It's so difficult to fight something so big, and we did all we could."

She said she was pleased, however, that the case has received public attention and that residents are aware that hospitals are involved in what she described as callous behavior toward homeless people.

Her mother and Anguiano's former wife, Claudia Ferreira, was stunned almost into silence after the verdict was read.

"It's overwhelming," she said after learning that her family lost the lawsuit.

The defense, on the other hand, hailed the verdict, saying it cleared the hospital of long-standing accusations of wrongdoing.

"This ruling showed that the nurse, as well as the security guard, were not responsible for the death," said Mike Prangle, a lawyer for Sunrise. He said the ruling vindicated the hospital, which had been vilified since the case began 10 years ago.

The ruling by the jury caps almost a decade of litigation. Lawyers for Anguiano's children, Sophia and Rudy, brought the suit more than seven years ago but case has been delayed because the children only found out about their father's death two years after he died, and because one of the defendants, Coastal Emergency Services of Dallas, declared bankruptcy.

The lawsuit accused Sunrise and Meyer of medical malpractice for allegedly failing to provide care to Anguiano. A second defendant in the lawsuit, Wilson-Fischer Emergency Medicine Ltd., provided doctors to the hospital on a contract basis. Meyer was one of Wilson-Fischer's contract physicians.

During closing arguments on Wednesday, Carter said that Sunrise and its staff acted with total disregard for Anguiano's health and safety when it refused to treat him even after he asked for medical assistance.

"A stranger on the sidewalk would have shown more compassion" for Anguiano than the hospital, said Carter during closing arguments on Wednesday. "He never should have been discharged from the ER."

Carter accused the hospital's staff of neglecting their responsibility toward Anguiano, from the doctor who initially assessed him to the nurses who allegedly followed orders and discharged him to the security guards who refused to let him back in the hospital. If treated properly, Anguiano could have survived, he said.

The defense, however, said that the hospital's staff adequately assessed Anguiano when he was admitted to the emergency room. Even though Anguiano died less than three hours after his admittance to the hospital from severe pneumonia, the hospital's staff could not have predicted that he was acutely ill, Prangle said.

"They did what was required by them and what was reasonable," Prangle said.

Prangle said Anguiano was initially assessed to be in fair condition when he was admitted to the emergency room. Anguiano allegedly had normal circulation and respiration and was at least coherent enough to be aware of his surroundings, Prangle said.

Any outward symptoms of illness that Anguiano showed, such as stumbling or glassy eyes, was attributed to his not having eaten in three days and possible marijuana use -- not a terminal illness, he said.

Prangle also raised questions about the accuracy of Anguiano's autopsy report. The autopsy report declared that Anguiano died from lobar pneumonia -- that he essentially suffocated after his right lung filled with liquid.

Prangle dismissed this finding, saying that another doctor testified during the weeklong trial that Anguiano died from a blood clot in his leg -- a pulmonary embolism -- that prevented oxygen from entering the bloodstream.

"His respiratory system was normal until he collapsed," Prangle said. "You do not die from pneumonia in an hour and a half."

Carter, however, placed the blame for Anguiano's death on the alleged neglect of the hospital's staff instead of some unforeseen sudden blood clot.

Besides having a pulse of more 132 beats per minute -- more than twice the normal pulse rate -- Anguiano was shaking, lost his balance and showed various symptoms of acute illness when he was forced from the emergency room, he said.

The staff would have done a more detailed diagnosis of Anguiano if he had not been homeless, Carter contended.

He said hospital staff testified, either during the trial or through depositions, that Anguiano should have been more thoroughly assessed and treated further. The staff members were prevented from providing further assistance because because Meyer ordered Anguiano discharged, Carter said.

Security guards forced Anguiano out of the emergency room less than an hour after his arrival. They refused to allow him to enter Sunrise again even though Anguiano requested further medical assistance. When Anguiano collapsed on the hospital property, the security supervisor asked another guard to call Metro Police and have Anguiano picked up for trespassing.

"Sunrise didn't have any compassion and (Anguiano) was left to die," Carter said.

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