Parents: Son died for lack of timely care

By Mark D. Somerson
Dispatch Medical Reporter

A bullet fired at close range sent Jason Michael Griffith to Mount Carmel East Hospital on Dec. 20, 1992, but negligence killed him, contends an attorney representing Griffiths family.

"Jason continued to bleed at a rate and amount that exceeded acceptable practice," Gerald S. Leeseburg said. "He bled to death."

Ernest and Grace Griffith of Pickerington have filed a $20 million lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court against Mount Carmel East, the doctors who treated their son and the man who shot him. The case is scheduled for trail May 19.

Leeseberg said Jason Griffiths death cuts to the heart of the debate over whether Ohio should implement mandatory system, which matches critically injured patients with hospitals best staffed and equipped to handle them.

At issue is whether Griffith received proper care for his injuries, Leeseberg said. Ernest and Grace Griffith don think their son did.

"They (the hospital staff) kept telling us about the great trauma team at Mount Carmel East," Mrs. Griffith said. "We didn know until after his death that the trauma team was one person."

Michael Cuniff, vice president for facility planning and risk management at mount Carmel, said the shooting was a tragedy and the hospital sympathizes with the Griffiths.

"But we have carefully reviewed the case, and we believe he was treated appropriately and we followed nationally recognized guidelines," Cuniff said, He would not discuss specifics.

Jason Griffith, 20 at the time of the shooting, didn die until more than a year later, on Jan. 19, 1994. At the time of his death, he had wasted away and was totally dependent on others, his parents said.

The day he was shot, Griffith, a student at the University of Cincinnati, was visiting Neil Eric Booher at Boohers parents house in Pickerington. The two young men were planning to go target shooting.

Booher, also 20 at the time, told Fairfield County Deputy sheriffs that he took a .45-caliber pistol out of a holster and it accidentally went off. Griffith, who was standing 5 feet away, was hit in the chest; the bullet pierced his right lung. Booher was not charged in the shooting but is named in the lawsuit. Jason Griffith confirmed that the shooting was an accident, his parents said.

In keeping with the protocol of the Violet Township Fire Department, the emergency squad transported Griffith to the closest hospital, Mount Carmel East.

Ohio is not among the 27 states and the District of Columbia that require severely injured people to be taken to verified trauma hospitals.

In central Ohio, Ohio State University Medical Center, Grant Medical Center and Childrens Hospital are the only verified trauma centers, recognized by the American College of Surgeons as best staffed and equipped to handle the worst emergencies.

Had Griffith been shot while hunting in Meigs County, Leeseberg said, he would been taken by helicopter to Grant or OSU.

Med Flight- and air-ambulance service based in Columbus that covers 51 counties, including Meigs-transports people only to verified trauma centers.

"In that case, he would have been at Grant or OSU in within a half and hour of the accident, and in all probability he would be alive and walking and talking today," Leeseberg said.

Before Griffith arrived at Mount Carmel East, Leeseberg said, the hospital issued a "trauma alert."

At a verified trauma hospital, such an alert immediately draws about 15 doctors, nurses and technicians to asses injuries and provide emergency care to stabilize the patient. Then, they either send the patient to the surgical intensive-care unit for observation and non-surgical care, or to surgery. The transfer usually takes 20 to 30 minutes, trauma experts say. In the initial hours after his arrival at Mount Carmel East, Leeseberg said, Griffith was seen by one doctor- fifth year medical resident in general surgery.

Griffith, who was losing blood, wasn taken to surgery until more than five hours after he arrives at the hospital, Leeseberg said. The doctor chose to observe rather than operate right away, the attorney said. Griffith continued to bleed during the hours before surgery.

The attorney contended that the hospital staff should have asked Griffiths parents to choose between observation and immediate surgery.

Although Mount Carmel East is not a trauma center, Cuniff said, the hospitals emergency department is equipped to handle most types of emergencies.

"Emergency squads take patients to the closest facility," he said. "When we feel we can care for that patient, we will transfer the patient."

The Griffiths think their son should have been transferred to a trauma center.

Among the expert witnesses named by Mount Carmel East in the court case are two local trauma surgeons.

In depositions taken by Leeseberg earlier this year, both agreed that Jason Griffith was nearly "100 percent survivable" when he arrived to the hospital.

Dr. Robert E. Falcone, a trauma surgeon at Grant, and Dr, Michael Townsend, a trauma surgeon who had worked at both OSU and Grant, said they would have treated Griffith differently.

Falcone, for example, said he would have inserted a breathing tube into Griffiths lung earlier and given him blood sooner, from and in-house bank.

Ten days after surgery, Griffiths heart stopped beating. He was resuscitated, but Leeseberg contends that because of Griffiths initial blood loss, he developed a number of conditions that led to adult respiratory distress syndrome-which results in the loss of oxygen to vital organs, including the brain.

On April 7, 1993, Griffith was transferred to Rebound, a neurological recovery center in Piqua, Ohio. He lad lost 70 pounds and could no longer walk or feed himself, his parents said.

After the Griffiths insurance would no longer pay to keep him at Rebound, their son was moved to a facility closer to home.

Leeseberg said that the Griffiths medical bills total nearly $700,000- most covered by insurance.

On Jan. 13, 1994, Griffith, who had been on antibiotics, was admitted into Grant with a fever, pneumonia and a urinary tract infection, records show. He died six days later of cardiac and respiratory arrest.

Court records indicate that the Griffiths this year offered to settle the lawsuit for $4.5 million. Cuniff would not comment on the offer.