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Wrongful Death Suit Filed Against Hospital After Man's Heart Attack Goes Unnoticed
A man, George Thrailkill, 66, was a patient in a Novato Community Hospital when he suffered a heart attack, but he had unfortunately fallen behind the bed and nurses did not notice his condition before it was too late.
Now a lawsuit has been filed by his widow against the hospital claiming that they are responsible for the wrongful death of her husband.
The lawsuit has been filed in a Marin Superior Court by Diane Thrailkill and claims that the hospital was negligent in taking care of her husband.
After the man was pronounced dead, the hospital staff alerted them to the events that occurred leading up to the man's hear attack.
Diane Thrailkill claims that medical records reveal that the nurse had made a mistake in her husband's treatment, which contributed to his death. She claims that the nurse was careless in the treatment which could have been avoided.
George Thrailkill was taken to the Novato Community Hospital after he reportedly was suffering from internal bleeding on January 23rd, 2005. He was first admitted to the intensive care unit but doctors later downgraded him to stable condition.
He was placed in a normal room and his care was approved and supervised by the patient care services director, Marc Tartarian.
Thrailkill was placed on a heart monitor and on Jan. 29, 2005, it warned of a signal disruption. Any signal of this kind is sent directly to the intensive care unit monitoring station which should merit immediate attention.
A nurse did arrive at the room to check on the man, but when she was unable to see him, she walked away assuming that he had simply gone to the restroom. Thrailkill was on the floor behind the bed because he had collapsed.
Seven minutes passed before they finally realized where he was but by that time it was too late to help him.
Diane Thrailkill filed the lawsuit under the belief that the nurse and the hospital were negligent in helping her husband and that his death could have been prevented if they had taken care of him immediately following his heart attack.
The claim is asking why the nurse did not make the complete effort to examine his room to make sure that he was not there.
A spokesman from the hospital said that they will not answer any questions until after litigation is complete.