Thomas Jefferson University Hospital faces wrongful death, med mal claim

The widow of a South Jersey man who died from cardiac arrest days after being admitted

to the hospital for chest pains has filed a medical malpractice and wrongful death claim against the healthcare agency and doctors whose collective negligence allegedly contributed to the man’s death.

Attorneys with the Philadelphia law firm Kline & Specter filed the civil action June 7 at Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas on behalf of Edith Virginia Boggs of Sweetwater, N.J.

Boggs is suing on behalf of her deceased husband, Albert P. Boggs, III, who died on Feb. 25, 2011, at the age of 68 three days after being admitted to the hospital for treatment of chest pains.

According to the complaint, Albert Boggs was taken to AmeriCare Hospital in Hamilton, N.J. on Feb. 22, 2011, after he developed chest pains while shoveling snow.

Doctors there discharged him that same day after diagnosing Boggs with gastritis.

The following day, Boggs was taken to the emergency room at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, a defendant in the suit, with continued chest pains, the suit states.

On Feb. 25, after a regiment of care that the lawsuit claims was subpar, Boggs died following an episode of cardiac arrest, according to the complaint.

Boggs’ autopsy identified the cause of death to be severe coronary artery disease, most likely from a fatal arrhythmia.

The suit claims that Boggs’ injuries, and subsequent death, were caused by the negligence and recklessness of the defendants, who, in addition to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, include Jefferson Health System, Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, and physicians Kendra Keeney and Johanna Tolin.

The complaint contains counts of negligence, corporate negligence and wrongful death.

Edith Boggs seeks damages in excess of $50,000, exclusive of pre-and-post-judgment interest and costs.

The plaintiff is demanding a jury trial.

 

The case ID number is 120600792.