Malpractice Lawsuit Alleges Man Declared Dead Twice

A widow has filed a lawsuit against two hospitals in the Buffalo area, alleging negligence and malpractice at the facilities led to her husband’s death. The plaintiff further asserts that her husband was pronounced dead at one the facilities, even though she and other family members saw clear signs of life.

If medical staff had listened to her concerns and checked her husband’s vital signs earlier, he might still be alive today, the plaintiff states in her complaint.

Heart attack leads to series of tragic events

Michael Cleveland was just 46 years old when he suffered an apparent heart attack at a Buffalo grocery store. Cleveland was taken by ambulance to DeGraff Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival. Dr. Gregory Perry was the physician that determined Cleveland was dead and broke the news to his wife, Tammy Cleveland, when she got to the hospital.

However, when Tammy and her children entered her husband’s room, they were shocked to see Michael moving. Tammy told the physician about the movement, but Dr. Perry responded that it was normal for someone as young as Michael to continue moving even after death. Tammy repeated her concerns to the doctor and hospital staff for two and a half hours but received similar responses.

When Dr. Perry did finally check Michael’s vital signs, he realized the “corpse” had a pulse. The next morning, Michael was transferred to Buffalo General Medical Center, due to complications that could not be effectively managed at DeGraff. Once at Buffalo General, physicians immediately placed a stent into the blocked artery to re-establish blood flow after the heart attack.

Collapsed lung left untreated

Unfortunately, the complications did not end there. The physicians at Buffalo General Medical Center explained to Tammy that Michael had a punctured lung – the result of broken ribs incurred when a bystander had performed CPR on him after he collapsed in the grocery store. The lung had filled with fluid by the time Michael arrived at Buffalo General. Tragically, the Buffalo General staff was unable to save him. An attorney for the plaintiff told WGRZ, “He went into respiratory failure because that collapsed lung was left unassisted for such a long period of time.”

Tammy Cleveland filed her medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Perry, a physician at Buffalo General and both of the hospitals, accusing them of “negligently, carelessly and recklessly” treating her husband. She told The Washington Post that hospital staff did not take any time for her at all, not even pausing to put a stethoscope on her husband’s chest to verify his death. It wasn’t until the fifth time Tammy called them into her husband’s room, more than two hours after the pronouncement of his death, that hospital staff finally realized Cleveland was indeed alive.

Tammy Cleveland told USA Today that the physician who examined Michael at Buffalo General, Dr. William Morris, told her that if the collapsed lung had been treated sooner, it was likely he would have survived. Instead, Tammy watched her husband pass away, not once, but twice within a 24-hour period. She has told media that her primary purpose in litigation is to make sure a similar situation does not occur to anyone else.

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