Deaconess accused of negligence
The widow of a Spokane doctor is suing Empire Health Services for negligence and wrongful death three years after she says her ill and confused husband walked out of Deaconess Medical Center and collapsed in the street.
Carol Oeljen alleges that hospital staff failed to monitor Dr. Carl Oeljen, a 62-year-old orthopedic surgeon who had worked at Deaconess, and failed to prevent him from wandering out of the hospital on Aug. 13, 2004.
Less than an hour after security cameras recorded Carl Oeljen leaving Deaconess, he collapsed on the corner of Fourth Avenue and Lincoln Street in downtown Spokane. Emergency crews summoned to the scene discovered Oeljen on the ground, with his heart in ventricular fibrillation, according to court documents filed this month in Spokane County Superior Court.
Oeljen was rushed back to the Deaconess Emergency Department, where he died 30 minutes later, despite extensive efforts to revive him, the suit said.
The lawsuit contends that staff failed to report changes in Oeljen’s medical status. It also notes that family members warned that Carl Oeljen had become confused after being admitted to the hospital for severe back pain and a possible infection.
A hospital spokeswoman said Tuesday she could confirm that Oeljen had been admitted on Aug. 12, 2004, but that medical privacy rules and pending litigation prevented further comment about the case.
However, Becky Swanson added that, in general, hospital personnel cannot keep a patient who leaves against medical advice.
“We don’t have a right to retain a patient unless it was indicated by a physician,” Swanson said.
She couldn’t say whether Oeljen’s doctor, Dr. Mark Johnson, had issued orders to keep Oeljen in the hospital.
Carol Oeljen, who is on the board of the Washington State Nurse’s Foundation, called the nurses’ station on her husband’s unit several times on the morning of Aug. 13, 2004, to express concern about her husband’s mental state, according to court documents. That afternoon, the Oeljens’ grown daughter, Carlin Froisland, also noted that her father seemed impaired.
Hospital workers noted that Carl Oeljen seemed mildly confused and that his speech was inappropriate, the documents said. But notes about his mental state weren’t recorded until after Oeljen’s death, the records indicated.
A little more than an hour after his daughter’s visit, security cameras recorded Carl Oeljen exiting the Deaconess elevators at 5:45 p.m. and leaving the hospital four minutes later.
Fire crews responded to a report of a man down at Fourth and Lincoln at 6:38 p.m. Oeljen died about 7:30 p.m.
The lawsuit seeks damages to be determined at trial and notes that Carol Oeljen chose not to submit the case to arbitration. Neither Carol Oeljen nor her lawyers responded Tuesday to calls about the lawsuit.
Carl Oeljen held a medical degree from the University of Minnesota, according to an obituary. He began practicing in Spokane in about 1975, when he joined the Rockwood Clinic. He was on the staffs at Sacred Heart Medical Center, Deaconess and Valley Hospital and Medical Center. He was also on the staff at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Spokane.
The case has been assigned to Judge Neal Q. Rielly.