FARMINGTON – A medical malpractice lawsuit filed against Franklin Memorial Hospital and several medical practitioners states that a patient there suffered disability, loss of enjoyment of life and is in need of guardianship and attendant care as a result of negligent care there.
According to a news release issued on Wednesday by the plaintiff’s attorney, Sumner H. Lipman, Joyce Pinkham of Phillips was taken by ambulance to the hospital on May 10, 2000, after collapsing at her home due to an aneurysm. Medical personnel at the hospital were “negligent and careless” in her treatment, the release said.
The suit states that Pinkham was initially treated by physician’s assistant Timothy Davis and Dr. N. Burgess Record Jr., who “tried to convince the family that Joyce Pinkham was unsalvageable and would never gain a meaningful life.” They also convinced the family that Pinkham had little chance to live and to remove her from life support. Later, after a ventilator and oxygen were removed, Pinkham began talking to her family. However, she sustained a brain injury as a result of being denied oxygen, the suit claims.
Medical personnel also urged the family to donate Pinkham’s organs, saying she had “a 99.9 percent chance of never making it, and if she did, she would never enjoy the benefits of life,” the suit says.
In addition to the hospital, the case names as negligent Davis, Record, physician’s assistant Simon-Peter Schaffer, radiologist Dr. Joseph Alley and Dr. Guillermo J. Candia, as well as Franklin Community Health Network, Pine Tree Medical Associates, Franklin Radiology Associates and Central Maine Clinical Associates.
The complaint was filed on behalf of Pinkham’s guardian and conservator, Brenda Wilcox, on July 5 after undergoing scrutiny by a malpractice board to determine the case’s validity.
“If proper medical care were administered, Joyce Pinkham would not be living today in need of guardianship and conservatorship, as well as attendant care,” wrote Lipman, who declined further comment Thursday.
“The negligent care has placed severe burdens on the family and extinguished her ability to enjoy life,” he continued in the written statement.
No comment was available Thursday from Franklin Memorial Hospital.
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