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Patient Files Medical Malpractice Suit against Texas Hospital

When a patient in a Port Arthur, Texas hospital called for help that never came, she decided to help herself. Problem was, she couldn’t.

Pamela Prunty disconnected her heart monitor, lowered the bed rails and wiggled out of her bed. When she walked to the bathroom, she fell. Even after her heart monitor alarm and bed rail alarms ran, hospital staff neglected to come to Prunty’s aid.

Now, Prunty has filed a medical malpractice suit against Medical Center in Southeast Texas in Jefferson County District Court. Specifically, her suit claims:

· Failure to exercise an appropriate standard of care;

· Failure to do that what a reasonably prudent health care provider would or would not have done under the similar circumstances;

· Failure to treat plaintiff's condition properly;

· Failure to adequately staff;

· Failure to adequately train; and

· Other acts of negligence.

Prunty is seeking medical expenses for past and future pain and suffering, attorney's fees, expenses, interest court costs and exemplary and/or punitive damages of at least $75,000.

David P. Matthews of Matthews & Associates in Houston is representing the plaintiff. The complaint centers around the hospital staff’s failure to respond to a patient in need and under duress.

"When Pamela Prunty attempted to stand, she fell," the complaint states. "There was no response from any of the hospital staff to her call to the nurses' station, her heart monitor alarm or her bedrail alarm."

Even when a nurse responded, care was lacking, according to the suit. “The nurse removed an intravenous tube from Pamela Prunty's arm," the petition stated. "When Prunty stood up, she again slipped on the IV fluid the on the floor, hit the side of the bed and fell on the floor. Her falls caused back injury which required surgery," the plaintiff claims.

After the turmoil was over, Prunty requested a hospital discharge, which was later approved.

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