Saint Luke’s Northland Hospital has been hit with a personal injury lawsuit brought by the wife of a man who had sought treatment in the emergency room but eventually died.
Fifty-year-old Kevin Gordanier of Kansas City visited the emergency room in December of 2017 after falling ill with what he believed were flu-like symptoms.
Kevin and his wife, Kim Gordanier, alerted the emergency staff that he was a Type 2 diabetic that not been taking his insulin because he was unable to eat due to his flu-like symptoms.
The 12-page lawsuit, filed Thursday, Sept. 19 in Platte County, alleges Saint Luke’s Northland Hospital failed to address Kevin’s diabetes and test his blood sugar level. Instead, the emergency room personnel confirmed Kevin had Influenza A and prescribed Tamiflu before discharging him from the hospital, the suit says.
It further contends, Lance Waldo, a physician in the emergency room, released Kevin from the hospital with “life-threatening but curable blood sugar levels and with no instruction regarding how to address those blood sugar levels while experiencing flu-like symptoms.”
On Jan. 1, 2018, Kevin woke up “extremely ill” and “unable to move under his own power.” Kim noticed her husband was struggling to communicate and control his bodily functions, prompting her to call 9-1-1, the suit says.
Kevin returned to Saint Luke’s Northland Hospital where he was diagnosed with diabetic ketoacidosis, a buildup of acids in his blood, which ultimately ended Kevin’s life, the lawsuit stipulates.
“Saint Luke’s Northland Hospital had a duty to act as other similarly situated healthcare facilities in providing care and treatment to diabetic, insulin-dependent emergency room patients when experiencing flu-like symptoms,” states the lawsuit.
The actions of Dr. Waldo and other emergency personnel were “egregious, reckless, and demonstrated a conscious disregard for the safety of others,” the suit says.
Kim Gordanier is seeking compensation claiming she has been deprived of “service care, comfort, companionship, guidance, support, counsel, training, affection and love of Kevin Gordanier.”
The defendants listed in the lawsuit include Metro Emergency Physicians Lance Waldo M.D., Whitney Lage R.N., Saint Luke’s Northland Hospital and two unidentified ER employees.
The malpractice lawsuit was filed by attorney Stephen Gorny with the Gorny Law Firm.