Buffalo Woman Files Medical Malpractice Lawsuit After Husband Declared Dead

A Buffalo, New York, resident filed a medical malpractice lawsuit after her husband was wrongfully declared dead. Tammy Cleveland claims in her medical malpractice lawsuit that her husband, Michael, suffered a heart attack in October 2014. The emergency room physician pronounced Mr. Cleveland dead minutes after his arrival. Mrs. Cleveland maintains that he was still showing signs of life, even after he was declared dead, and that doctors and nurses ignored those signs until it was too late.

Details of the Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

According to the medical malpractice lawsuit, Mr. Cleveland was transported to DeGraff Memorial Hospital after what appeared to be a heart attack. Dr. Gregory Perry, the emergency room physician on duty, declared Mr. Cleveland dead shortly after his arrival. Dr. Perry told Mrs. Cleveland that her husband had passed when she arrived a few minutes later. Mrs. Cleveland claimed in her medical malpractice lawsuit that she could see her husband breathe and turn his gaze toward her.

Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Claims Doctor Ignores Vital Signs

Dr. Perry ignored Mrs. Cleveland’s observations. The medical malpractice lawsuit claims that Mr. Cleveland continued to show signs of life. Mrs. Cleveland stated that her husband “turned his eyes” and was “responding to (her).” She also stated that Dr. Perry told her “that it’s normal” for the recently deceased to continue to show signs of life. The medical malpractice lawsuit claims that Dr. Perry said that the signs Mrs. Cleveland saw were symptoms showing that her husband “had a lot of life to expel out of his body because, you know, he’s only 46.”

Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Cites Ignored Vital Signs

Documents from the medical malpractice lawsuit show that Dr. Perry did not check Mr. Cleveland’s vital signs on his arrival to the ER. After two hours and much persuasion from Mrs. Cleveland and their family, Dr. Perry used his stethoscope and found a pulse. A later examination determined that Mr. Cleveland suffered a collapsed lung from a bystander who had administered CPR. Mr. Cleveland was transferred to Buffalo General Medical Center the next morning and received a stent in a blocked coronary artery, but was declared dead a second time later that day.

Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Starts in February

A pre-trial conference for the Cleveland medical malpractice lawsuit is scheduled for February 24, 2016. The medical malpractice lawsuit named Dr. Perry and Kaleida Health, which owns both DeGraff Memorial Hospital and Buffalo General Medical Center, as defendants. Mrs. Cleveland told reporters that the objective of her medical malpractice lawsuit was to teach Dr. Perry and other physicians a lesson in ignoring patients. “I want him to not do it again to anybody else. I want him to learn something by it,” she told a local television station.

Source: WGRZ-TV

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