An Alleghany County man whose wife died several days after giving birth to their son has filed a lawsuit alleging that a doctor performed a botched cesarean section and that the doctor and the nursing staff at Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital in Elkin were negligent in their care.
Winston-Salem lawyers Harold and Harvey Kennedy filed the lawsuit Monday in Surry Superior Court on behalf of Alan Jarvis, the administrator of the estate of his wife, Kelly Casstevens Jarvis.
Kelly Jarvis was 31 when she died March 14, 2009, at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, according to the lawsuit, which names Dr. Peter F. McIlveen, Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital Inc. and others as defendants. The lawsuit also names Alliant Management Services, which is based in Kentucky and manages the hospital, and Total Woman Care, as defendants. McIlveen is a physician at Total Woman Care and an independent contractor with Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital.
McIlveen could not be reached for comment. Officials with the hospital and Alliant did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Kennedys declined to comment on the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Kelly Jarvis, a Yadkin County native who worked at the State Road Animal Hospital, and her husband had been married five years when they were preparing for the birth of their son, Ethan, who is now 2. On March 9, 2009, McIlveen delivered Ethan through C-section, but during the operation, he cut Kelly Jarvis' small bowel and closed her up without properly checking her upper abdomen, according to the lawsuit.
For the next three days, Kelly Jarvis complained of severe abdominal pain and nausea, the lawsuit said. She also could not have a bowel movement, according to the lawsuit.
No blood tests, lab work or any other tests were done, and the nursing staff released Kelly Jarvis on March 12, even though she complained about her symptoms during her discharge from the hospital, the lawsuit said. McIlveen did not check on her before she was released, the lawsuit alleges.
Kelly Jarvis was still having the same symptoms on March 13, according to the lawsuit, and her husband took her to McIlveen's office. After several hours in the office, McIlveen told Alan Jarvis to take his wife to Hugh Chatham Memorial, where she was put in the intensive care unit.
At the ICU unit, Kelly Jarvis was diagnosed with probable intra-abdominal sepsis and acute renal failure, the lawsuit said. McIlveen knew that Kelly Jarvis had bluish discoloration on her palms and the soles of her feet and that her abdomen was tender with distension when she was placed in the ICU unit, the lawsuit alleges.
Though Kelly Jarvis went to see McIlveen at his office March 13 at 3 p.m., it wasn't until 8:20 p.m. that arrangements were made to transfer her to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, where she died after midnight on March 14, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges medical malpractice against McIlveen, Total Woman Care, Alliant Management and the hospital. It further alleges a lack of informed consent because McIlveen and Total Woman Care staffers did not tell Kelly Jarvis about the risks of her pregnancy and that she should have an elective C-section at a larger, more advanced hospital.
The lawsuit is asking a total of at least $60,000 in compensatory and punitive damages and a jury trial.
In a similar case last May, a Wilkes County jury awarded $7 million to the estate of Victoria Lynn Brown Harmon, who died after a botched hysterectomy in which her bowel was cut. The procedure was done at Lake Norman Regional Medical Center, but she was eventually transferred to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. She developed sepsis, suffered multiple organ failures, had pneumonia and was on dialysis before her family and doctors decided against further treatment. She died Sept. 24, 2007.
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