Southern Hills Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Google Maps)
A Nevada mother says a hospital devastated her with an email incorrectly identifying her living son as a “deceased patient.” According to a lawsuit, she spent three days believing he had died before learning the message was false.
“During this three-day period, Ms. Garbowski generally was unable to get out of bed, was paralyzed by grief, and was unable to function in her day-to-day life,” alleges a complaint filed by Marlene Garbowski and obtained by Law&Crime. “During this three-day period, Ms. Garbowski was compelled to take a prescription anti-anxiety medication that she had never previously needed to take, in an effort to cope with the emotional distress caused directly by Southern Hills’ false statement.”
Garbowski is suing Southern Hills Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas and several employees. The lawsuit accuses them of negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress after hospital staff allegedly classified her son, Geoffrey, as deceased even though he was alive.
Geoffrey had been treated at Southern Hills in January 2024, according to the complaint.
Several months later, Garbowski contacted the hospital to request her son’s medical records for his application for Supplemental Security Income benefits. On Nov. 5, 2024, the hospital allegedly replied by email that it could not provide the records because Geoffrey was “deceased.”
“This statement was false,” the complaint states. “Geoffrey was, and remains, alive.”
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Weeks later, a hospital complaint manager allegedly contacted Garbowski, acknowledged the mistake and apologized. The manager reportedly described the incident as a “learning tool” for the hospital. Garbowski’s attorneys argue that Southern Hills had a responsibility to provide her with accurate information.
The lawsuit alleges that the hospital had “a duty to exercise reasonable care in the accuracy of information” it provided to Garbowski. It also says Nevada law requires hospitals to maintain accurate medical records and employ enough qualified personnel to ensure patient information is “accurately and promptly communicated.”
Garbowski’s lawyers argue that the manager’s apology acknowledged the hospital’s error. The complaint says the consequences were far more serious than a routine record-keeping mistake.
“As a proximate result of Southern Hills’ negligent conduct described herein, Ms. Garbowski has suffered, and continues to suffer, severe emotional distress with accompanying physical manifestations, including but not limited to her inability to get out of bed for approximately three days and her need for prescription anti-anxiety medication, as well as ongoing psychological harm,” the complaint states.
Garbowski is seeking damages for the alleged negligence and emotional distress. Southern Hills did not respond to requests for comment from Law&Crime or the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The post Mom spent 3 days thinking her son was dead after hospital falsely told her in an email he was a ‘deceased patient,’ lawsuit says first appeared on Law & Crime.
