The family of a man who died after treatment at the Veterans Administration hospital in Little Rock, Ark., have filed a $3.5 million lawsuit against the government in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.
The lawsuit was filed June 7 by the survivors of Melvin Lawrence Reed, Washburn, who was 64 when he died on Feb. 14, 2004, at Cox Medical Center in Springfield. Those listed on the lawsuit are his widow, Norma Reed, Washburn; and three sons, Melvin Reed Jr. and Jeff Reed, both of Joplin, and Michael Reed of Neosho.
According to the petition, Mr. Reed underwent a subtotal gastrectomy at the VA hospital on Feb. 4, 2004, and was discharged one week later. Two days later, he was admitted to Cox Health in Monett, then he was transferred to the hospital's main facility in Springfield, where he died the next day.
The lawsuit says an autopsy determined "there had been a breakdown of the suture lines, allowing the intestinal contents to spill into the peritoneum or gut, resulting in severe peritonitis and other complications." The petition blames this on negligence by doctors and personnel at the VA hospital, saying that they:
-"Failed to adequately monitor and observe the patient following the surgery
-negligently failed to "diagnose the leakage of bile and other intestinal contents
-negligently failed to "diagnose the peritonitis at a time when it reasonably could have been treated
-negligently discharged Reed "when he was not medically stable" causing him to die a "painful, agonizing death."
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