Patient complains about doctor's comments

Patient complains about doctor's comments

She says she was told: 'Do not get drunk and fall'

By CBS 4 Reporter Brian Maass, Special to the Rocky
May 25, 2007

An intoxicated patient filed a complaint with the city after a Denver Health Medical Center doctor issued discharge instructions telling her to not "get drunk and fall, causing harm to your head or body."

Patient Karin Howe, of Littleton, a certified nurse aide, accused Dr. Yadavinder Sooch of issuing "outrageous discharge instructions" and said the hospital provided "substandard treatment," according to an intent-to-sue complaint obtained by CBS 4 News investigator Brian Maass. It was dated Jan. 30.

Dee Martinez, a spokeswoman for Denver Health Medical Center, said the potential lawsuit has been settled, and details were confidential. Howe's lawyer, Eric Driskell, declined to talk about the claim.

According to documents obtained by CBS 4 News, the following is what occurred Aug. 12, 2006:

Howe had been drinking in Denver with friends. At 2:30 a.m. she was riding in a "rickshaw" in LoDo, stood up, fell backward and tumbled to the sidewalk, hitting her head. The 34-year-old mother of two lost consciousness. A Denver Health Medical Center ambulance was sent to 20th and Wazee streets.

Howe, who had cut the back of her head, was "acutely intoxicated," according to hospital records, with a breath alcohol level measured at 0.216. The reports show Howe was uncooperative with emergency department personnel and was tied down.

But according to Howe's complaint, she was not seen by a doctor until 7:50 a.m., more than five hours after she arrived. She was eventually examined by Sooch, but Howe says the doctor did not order X-rays, an MRI or a CT scan of her head, nor was she admitted to the hospital. Sooch treated the cut on her head and in his discharge instructions, prescribed Tylenol, facts verified by medical records. Dr. Sooch, on the hospital discharge sheet, had these instructions for Howe:

"Do not abuse alcohol. Do not get drunk and fall causing harm to your head or body. Apologize to your family, friends and ED (emergency department) faculty for your extremely inappropriate behavior and rudeness while intoxicated. Be a great mother to your kids."

The instructions were "intentionally cruel and hurtful," according to Dr. Greg Kane, who was asked by Howe's lawyer to evaluate her care. "The written discharge instructions . . . served no medical purpose, but were instead cruel and snidely vicious - intended only to humiliate and cause psychological injury."

Howe went to an urgent care clinic two days later where doctors transferred her to Littleton Adventist Hospital. The diagnosis included a hairline skull fracture, closed head injury, and possible traumatic brain injury. She spent two days in the hospital.

Rocky Mountain News