NEED TO KNOW
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A jury has awarded the family of Ava Wilson $20.5 million in a wrongful death suit filed against a hospital after she died at home from lethal levels of morphine
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Ava was in remission from b-lymphoblastic leukemia and had been prescribed morphine for pain at a follow-up appointment
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“The family is thankful to the jury for recognizing their loss and giving them some sense of justice,” the family’s attorney tells PEOPLE
A jury has awarded a family $20.5 million after their 11-year-old daughter — who had just beaten cancer — was prescribed a lethal dose of painkillers, per CBS News,
Ava Wilson, of Crown Point, Ind., was diagnosed with b-lymphoblastic leukemia — a blood and bone marrow cancer — in April 2020. She underwent consolidation therapy and chemotherapy, and was considered to be in remission in June 2020, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by her parents, Gerard and Pamela Wilson.
Supplied by Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard
Ava with mom Pamela Wilson.
Her outlook was positive, according to a release from the family’s law firm, Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, P.C. As her obituary noted, she was an honor student who was active in her elementary school’s charity group and played on the soccer team.
However, on October 29, 2020, Ava had a follow-up appointment at the Cancer Center at Advocate Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn, Ill. During that appointment, she was seen by a nurse practitioner, who noted that Ava was “crying in pain during her physical exam,” per the lawsuit, which alleges that Ava had “had severe pain in her lower back which radiated down both legs,” and difficulty walking.
Supplied by Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard
Ava Wilson died after she was prescribed morphine.
The lawsuit alleges that the nurse failed to admit Ava for further care.
In a statement to PEOPLE, Advocate Children’s Hospital said, “Our hearts go out to this family. We are committed to providing appropriate care to every patient. Due to patient privacy, we are unable to comment further.”
Blood work showed that Ava had low platelet counts, low blood cell counts and high liver enzymes, and she was given some IV infusions that included a painkiller, per the lawsuit, which adds that her heart rate and blood pressure were also abnormal. However, the suit alleges Ava never saw her oncologist, just the nurse, who increased Ava’s gabapentin — used to treat nerve pain — to 100 mg, three times a day, and 15 mg of morphine, every four hours.
“Instead of admitting Ava to the hospital to get her blood pressure, heart rate and pain levels within acceptable and normal limits, Advocate employees sent Ava home with excessive pain medications,” the family’s attorney Matthew L. Williams said in the release. “Ava’s body was yelling out to these clinicians, ‘Help me!’, and they just ignored it.”
Thirty-six hours after she left the clinic, Ava died in her sleep on October 31, 2020, her death a result of “acute combined drug toxicity of morphine, hydroxyzine, and gabapentin. She was found to have lethal levels of morphine in her system at the time of her death,” the press release states.
Supplied by Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard
Ava Wilson died after she was prescribed a morphine.
“Morphine is a potentially dangerous drug that should only be used with great caution and under close monitoring, especially when you increase the dose that can be given to an 11-year-old child,” Williams, tells PEOPLE exclusively.
“When that’s not done, the patient is put at an unnecessary risk for drug toxicity. respiratory depression or even death. The family is thankful to the jury for recognizing their loss and giving them some sense of justice.”
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