Man dies after wrong family was asked about taking off life support
A hospital is being sued after it pulled the plug on the wrong patient who was on life support.
According to a Jan. 15 report by PEOPLE Magazine, a hospital in Vancouver, WA has been charged for negligence and for causing severe emotional distress after it consulted the wrong family about their next step on a man named Michael Beehler.
Court documents obtained by the media outlet showed that PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center removed life support on David Wells after he was wrongly identified as Beehler in August 2021.
In an interview with KGW, Beehler's sister, Debbie Danielson, recalled that she was asked by the hospital whether they wanted the "brain dead" patient to stay on life support. To which, she answered that they decided as a family that it was time to pull the plug. Beehler's relatives mourned his "death" in a funeral and even had an obituary released in the newspaper.
But a few days later, Danielson received a call from Beehler.
"I said, 'You can't be alive. You're dead!'" she shared with KGW.
She and her siblings immediately alerted the authorities about what happened.
Wells' body was retrieved by the Clark County Medical Examiner, which eventally confirmed he was not Beehler after a fingerprint examination.
While he knew about Wells' death, his son, Shawn, claimed that the medical examiner, the hospital, or the funeral home did not inform him about the unfortunate mix-up. He only learned about it after KGW asked him for a comment two years after the incident.
"I'm at a loss for words how badly they handled this," he said. "I'll never be able to get that decision back."
The Washington Department of Health found several violations by the hospital. They said it failed to "develop a process to ensure staff were trained to verify patient identification," "provide supervision of staff tasked with verifying patient identification," and "have a reliable method to identify each patient presenting for care."
PEOPLE Magazine reported that none of the violations garnered citations as it was found that the hospital "enacted the necessary improvements."
"The PeaceHealth Southwest Emergency Department is one of the busiest on the West Coast, treating 80,000 patients a year. Our highly skilled healthcare team is committed to providing quality care in a safe environment every day," the hospital said in a statement sent to the media outlet.
"Given that PeaceHealth is involved in litigation, it is unfortunate we are unable to share more facts about this situation. Our unwavering commitment of caring for our community remains stronger than ever," it added.
Aside from the hospital, the CCME, American Medical Response Ambulance, and All County Cremation and Burial are also being sued for negligence, tort of outrage, and causing severe emotional distress in another case.
