A woman is suing New York's St. Barnabas Hospital after they gave her permission to pull the plug on someone they thought was her brother. The patients name was Freddy Clarence Williams and he had overdosed on drugs and suffered severe brain damage. The woman stated, "He had tubes in his mouth, a neck brace, and he could not speak but he resembled my brother so much." The doctors said there was little to no hope for him. Knowing this the woman, Shirell Powell, gave consent to pull the strangers plug. Her actual brother Frederick Williams, had been arrested that same month and the family was unaware of this. Powell was accompanied by Frederick's daughters. The whole family was devestated after hearing the news.
Questions
Do you think this was the hospital's fault?
Yes, because they should have run extra tests to figure out who the patient was before alerting the family. The hospital should be more aware of things like this.
What would yo do if something like this happened to you?
I would be devestated and I would definetly sue the hospital because they are at fault for mixing up patients. I would also be very confused and sad for killing someone that I didn't even know.
Replies
Well done Angel! Try to stay away from yes/no questions next time.
Yes I do there the ones that are supposed to ask relatives if there related to him and know his last name so they can identify him when there in the hospital but the ladie should have also known if it was her brother or not to
Probelly sue the hospital for giving me the decision to kill someone that wasent my family memeber and not really care to much beucase in the end you dident lose a family member
I think this is definitely the hospital's fault because they should know who people are before they let them die in the hospital. I this happened to me I wuld be upset with the hospital for making me think my sibling died.
The hospital should have known the correct identity of their patient and ensure they had contacted the correct family. I would feel bad that I made a decision that the actual family should have made. However, I would not say that I killed the person because I would've have been having my mind influenced by the hospital so the hospital would've been at blame.
I agree and I think that she was right to pull the plug because she thought it was her brother and he was close to dying. I also think that the hospital is at fault for this because they should have identified the patient before they contacted the family.
I do think it's the hospital's fault. They should have ran more tests, but the police force also should've told the hospital about him. I would also be very upset and sad because they had killed someone that they shouldn't of.
There should have obviously been more testing when it came to this. There should be no probable reason that someone else's life was ended because "oopsie daisy". Its absolutely ridculolus that someone had their life ended because their names were similar. The family should have also been notified when the brother was arrested, because then this whole thing would not have happened.
I agree, this whole thing would not have happened if the family was contacted about the brothers arrest but maybe the prison did not know their contact information. The woman also thought that they looked similar which could have played a role in this situation. I also think there should have been more testing.
I think it was but wasn't the hospitals fault at the same time they could have ran more tests, but at the same time the police should've figured out who he was and told that to the hospital. If something like this happened to me I would feel very guilty and very upset and sad.
The article said that the patient was barely recognizable because his face was swollen and he had a lot of tubes attatched to his face. The woman also said that he resembled her brother so much and she was to focused on her brother dying that she didn't even realize.
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