Jury returns verdict for woman who died at St. Joseph’s Hospital

Kline & Specter’s Braden Lepisto, in his first case as lead counsel, won a $260,000 jury verdict for the family of an 83-year-old woman who died at St. Joseph’s Hospital after staff there failed to monitor her vital signs as she suffered an acute aspiration event.
 A nurse’s aide who found Mildred Rogers unresponsive waited four to five minutes before seeking help from a nurse or doctor. By the time doctors arrived, their attempts to resuscitate the patient were unsuccessful. Rogers had suffered a number of illnesses before she entered the hospital in June 2012, including post-stroke symptoms, progressive dementia and aphasia. She had been admitted for recurrent aspiration pneumonia, which can be dangerous as patients may breathe in saliva or stomach contents.
 Rogers was supposed to have been monitored at all times but, according to the lawsuit, the hospital staff had either left her alone in her room while disconnected from the monitor or failed to respond to alarms about her condition.
 Following the verdict in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, Lepisto said: “This verdict demonstrates that no matter your age or prior health, all patients demand and deserve adequate care and attention from those entrusted with their very lives.”