Jim Booker Estate Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Belleville, its Lincoln Surgical Group, Ltd, four physicians and a registered nurse are all named in a 12-count wrongful death lawsuit filed in Perry County Circuit Court Friday on behalf of the estate of the late Jim Booker.
Booker, Du Quoin's retired chief of police, school board member and a sitting Perry County commissioner, died on November 5, 2007 as a result of complications from what on any other day was a routine colon resection surgery.
The plaintiff in the lawsuit is Lora Booker on behalf of her late husband's estate and their two sons. The estate has retained attorney Brian K. Zirkelbach to represent it. He is an attorney for the Du Quoin and Murphysboro law firm of Reed,Heller, Mansfield & Gross and a gifted litigator who represented families in the Mount Vernon Raceway tragedy three years ago. He has a largely unbroken string of successful personal injury and wrongful death outcomes.
The lawsuit names St. Elizabeth's Hospital of the Hospital Sisters of the Twentieth Order, a corporation; Dr. Shelly Harkins, Jennie Rickert, R.N., Dr. Gregory Nelcamp, Dr. Douglas Boler, the Lincoln Surgical Group, Ltd. and Dr. Donald S. Crouch.
At the outset, the lawsuit claims the staff of St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Belleville a.) negligently and carelessly failed to realize the patient was at high risk of C difficile disease ( a severe bacterial infection) b.) negligently and carelessly failed to inform physicians of the quantity, severity and characteristics of diarrhea (associated with C-diff) experienced by the patient as early as November 2, three days before his death c.) negligently and carelessly failed to order a C-diff test to rule out the presence of clostridium difficile colitis as the cause of the patient's worsening symptoms up to and even after the exploratory laparotomy performed by Dr. Donald Scott Crouch, M.D. on November 5 d.) negligently and carelessly failed to recognize the appearance of fulminant clostridium disease e.) negligently and carelessly failed to recognize and provide adequate resuscitation for the progression from dehydration through septic shock and cardiovascular collapse, f.) negligently and carelessly failed to notify Dr. Shelly Harkins, M.D., Jennie Rickert, APRN, and/or Dr. Donald Scott Crouch, M.D. of the persistent progression of septic shock in the post operative period of November 5 g.) negligently and carelessly failed to realize the patient was progressing through septic shock in the post operative period of November 5 h.) negligently and carelessly failed to consider the need for critical care services as provided by a pulmonary and infectious disease consultation before the exploratory laparotomy performed by Dr. Donald Scott Crouch, M.D. on November 5, and i.) negligently and carelessly failed to continue administering dopamine as instructed in combination with Neo Synephrine for pressor support.
"C-diff" is a tissue-eating bacterial disease that is, on occasion, acquired in a hospital environment during antibiotic therapy. However, a colon patient can go into the hospital with the disease. Essentially, the argument will be that the severity of Jim's diarrhea was a red flag that should have warranted a C-diff test. It is a routine test on a stool sample. The C-diff test would have ruled out the presence of clostridium colitis as the cause o the patient's worsening symptoms.
In failing to recognize the infection, the staff failed to provide adequate resuscitation for the progression from dehydration, which continued into septic shock. Septic shock can be likened to a runaway infection.
Dopamine is an agent used to regulate or actually increase a patient's blood pressure.
The hospital will likely argue that intestinal tract evacuation, dehydration and letting the colon "rest" before a surgery are a goal.
All 12 counts get to the same conclusion in varying degrees, that what began as a treatable disease evolved into a systemic crash of the patient's health and that between lack of hydration, proper treatment and consults with pulmonary and pathology specialists, Jim's condition was allowed to deteriorate quickly and caused his death.
The lawsuit seeks more than $50,000 in each of the 12 counts as both a wrongful death matter and as a survivor's claim because of that wrongful death.
Attorney Brian Zirkelbach told the newspaper that in not keeping Jim hydrated, the medical staff essentially "starved" him while not fully and responsibly addressing the infection that would take his life.
Zirkelbach has asked for a jury trial in the case.