Florida

Helen Etting
Miami

Ms. Helen Etting went into a nursing home in Miami, Florida, Regents Park at Aventura, in early 2000. Once there, she repeatedly suffered from malnutrition and dehydration, poor hygiene, bed sores and a number of other health problems that required repeated admission to the hospital. After more than a year of neglect, Helen passed away in April 2001.

After her death, Helen's family found that they could not hold the nursing home accountable in court due to a binding mandatory arbitration clause in the contract to admit Helen. Despite the fact that Helen was legally blind and her signature appeared nowhere near the signature line on the contract, the clause was upheld and the family was forced into binding arbitration. Learn how you can protect yourself.

Margaret Little

Joyce Betters decided to take her mother, Margaret Little, to the ER because she was experiencing chest pains. A nurse at the ER noted that she thought Margaret was having cardiac problems. Margaret was taken to a back room and was left there for three hours. Margaret began complaining to her daughter than the pain was getting worse in her jaw, arms, left shoulder and fingers. After waiting a few more hours and despite pleas by Joyce, the ER tried to send them home. However, they refused to leave because the pain was so bad and insisted that the ER personnel call Margaret's primary doctor. Her primary doctor insisted that the ER admit Margaret so he could examine her in the morning. The ER gave her a drug that actually worsened her condition and they never conducted an EKG. While waiting to be checked in, Margaret went into cardiac arrest and passed away.

Kendyll Bliss
Monroe County, FL

Kim and Ryan Bliss took their eight-month-old daughter, Kendyll, to the Emergency Room because she was suffering from a simple cold and wanted her to get some fluids. Unbeknownst to Kim and Ryan, the ER did not have any medical equipment on hand to treat an infant. The ER nurse tried unsuccessfully for two and a half hours to get an adult IV needle into Kendyll's body. After waiting yet another hour, the doctor arrived and used an adult IV to get into Kendyll's jugular vein. Once the port was inserted, the nurse had orders to let one bag of fluids drip for a half an hour, and then a second bag should be hooked up and allowed to drip throughout the night.

After the first bag was finished, the nurse came in to change the bags. After the second bag was hooked up the nurse began to continuously squeeze the bag. Kim and Ryan were shocked when the saw air bubbles in the line that was inserted into their daughter's body. Kim and Ryan tried desperately to alert someone in the ER, but their pleas were ignored. Immediately, Kendyll turned blue. Despite more pleas that something was terribly wrong with their child, the nurse did not try to resuscitate her nor did she call anybody over to help. Kendyll passed away shortly thereafter.

Ernesto "Ernie" Arill

Ernesto Arill, went to the ER because he had chest pain, fever, chills, body ache, and was vomiting. He had a history of splenectomy. His initial blood-work clearly revealed a bacterial infection and yet he remained in the ER for nearly nine hours without receiving any treatment. He then was sent home only to return 12 hours later in septic shock as a result of the bacterial infection. As a result of his ER treatment, Mr. Arill lost both legs, his right hand, all of the fingers on his left hand, a part of his nose, as well as his kidney function requiring a kidney transplant.