Background: Advocate Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn, Ill. (Google Maps). Inset: Ava Wilson (Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, P.C.).
The family of an Indiana girl who survived cancer has filed a lawsuit against an Illinois hospital for sending her home with a dangerous dose of prescription pain medications, which ultimately resulted in her death.
The lawsuit was submitted in Illinois’ Cook County and states that Ava Wilson, aged 11, was in remission from b-lymphoblastic leukemia when she attended a follow-up visit at Advocate Children’s Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois, with her mother on Oct. 29, 2020. The Wilsons’ family attorney reported that Ava was “crying in pain” and struggled to walk during the appointment with a nurse practitioner. Lab results indicated Ava had “low platelet counts, low blood cell counts, and high liver enzymes” along with low blood pressure.
The Wilsons’ attorneys, from the law firm Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C., stated that instead of being admitted for observation of her worrisome symptoms, Ava was discharged with increased prescriptions for morphine and gabapentin.
On the night of Oct. 31, 2020, Ava died in her sleep — tests revealed lethal amounts of morphine in her blood.
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The civil complaint, reviewed by Law&Crime, stated that Ava was prescribed 100 mg of gabapentin three times a day and 15 mg of morphine every four hours as needed following her Oct. 29, 2020, visit. Both medication doses were notable increases in what Ava had already been taking. The Wilsons’ attorney also noted in their press release that “[w]hen taken together, the medications can make each other stronger.”
The complaint also stated that while Ava’s regular oncologist did not see the girl at what would be her final appointment, she “endorsed” the new treatment plan for “at-home pain management.” The oncologist was not a defendant in the lawsuit.
Lead trial attorney Matthew L. Williams told the court, “Instead of admitting Ava to the hospital to get her blood pressure, heart rate and pain levels within acceptable and normal limits, Advocate employees sent Ava home” with an “excessive” amount of pain medication.
“Ava’s body was yelling out to these clinicians, ‘help me!’ and they just ignored it,” Williams said.
The hospital staff, represented by attorneys at Hall Prangle LLC, argued that Ava’s symptoms at her appointment were consistent with complications from leukemia. They also stated that the medications prescribed were “within the recommended range.”
During the trial, which began on May 29, a forensic neuropathologist testified that Ava’s death was due to the amount and combination of medications in her system. The Wilsons’ attorneys said in their press release that Ava died of “acute combined drug toxicity of morphine, hydroxyzine, and gabapentin.”
On June 10, a jury agreed with the Wilsons, deciding in favor of the plaintiffs and awarding Ava’s surviving family members $20,500,000 for “their past and future loss of society and past and future grief, sorrow and mental suffering.”
Aaron D. Boeder, another member of the Wilsons’ legal team, said in the press release, “While nothing will ease the depth of Ava’s loved ones’ pain, the family appreciates that the jury recognized that Ava’s death was preventable and that she should still be with them today.
Law&Crime reached out to Advocate Health and Hospitals Corporation but did not receive an immediate response. In a statement to McClatchy News, a spokesperson said, “Our hearts go out to this family. We are committed to providing appropriate care to every patient. Due to patient privacy, we are unable to comment further.”
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