California medical malpractice alert: San Mateo Medical Center allegedly caused a woman’s death

2009-12-30 16:04:50 (GMT) (JusticeNewsFlash.com - Justice News Flash, Medical Malpractice)

Legal news for California medical malpractice attorneys. A medical malpractice lawsuit claims a hospitals negligence caused a woman’s death.

Medical malpractice attorneys alerts- A medical malpractice lawsuit was filed against a San Mateo County hospital.

San Francisco, CA—A San Mateo County-run hospital was slapped with a medical malpractice lawsuit by the daughter of a woman who died on November 29, 2008, due to the negligence on the hospital staff’s part. The lawsuit was filed on Nov. 17, 2009, and is seeking undisclosed damages, as reported by the San Jose Mercury News.

The daughter of Penny Louise Prevezich, claims the medical staff at the San Mateo Medical Center left her mother unattended in the waiting area for 90 minutes, when sometime within that 90 minute window she stopped breathing and lost her pulse. Prevezich’s daughter, Nicole Blincoe, stated her mother was transported from a Menlo Park mental health facility, Transitions, to the hospital because she requested that she be moved to another facility. Prevezich arrived at the hospital around 10:00 p.m., and was escorted by a nurse to the waiting area. A paramedic who evaluated Prevezich on the way to the hospital stated that she denied being suicidal, nor did she exhibit any suicidal behavior, according to the lawsuit. Although the lawsuit does not state what Prevezich was being treated for, it was reported that her “psychiatric history was well-known to the staff” at San Mateo Medical Center. When Prevezich was checked on after 90 minutes, she was discovered slouched over, not breathing, and in cardiac arrest. Prevezich was pronounced dead at 12:02 a.m. The lawsuit contends that because of San Mateo Medical Center’s negligence it has left Blincoe “deprived of a kind and loving mother.”

Legal News Reporter: Nicole Howley-Legal news for California medical malpractice lawyers.