06/01/2026
A retired welder and railroad worker, married for 62 years and beloved by three generations of family, survived a serious car accident on July 4, 2024, while returning from the grocery store with items for a backyard BBQ, only to lose his life three weeks later due to preventable medical negligence at the hospital where he was recovering.
What began as a manageable tracheostomy became fatal when caregivers repeatedly, over days, overinflated the tracheostomy cuff beyond safe limits rather than replacing it. When the cuff ultimately failed, an emergency airway exchange was attempted by a second-year resident physician without proper supervision or backup, resulting in a false passage, uncontrolled bleeding, and an airway that could not be re-established. He died that morning with his family at his bedside.
His treating physician's own supervisor later told the family there was "not a darn thing" in his injury pattern that should have prevented him from going home to his "sweet wife." He called the airway exchange a "medical misadventure."
We recently settled this wrongful death case for nearly $1,000,000.00. No amount of money brings back a husband, a father, and a grandfather who should have walked out of that hospital. But accountability matters, and so does making sure this family was not left to bear the consequences of someone else's negligence alone.
If you or a family member has been injured by medical negligence, contact our office.