CLINTON, Ark. (Legal Newsline) -- An Arkansas widow is suing health care providers for negligence that allegedly led to her husband's death.
Pamela Darlene Elliott, on behalf of Kenneth Elliot (deceased), filed a complaint on May 17 in the Circuit Court of Van Buren County against Ozark Health Center, Baptist Health Medical Center Little Rock, Don L. Kusenberger, M.D., Earnest Sears, M.D., Chad Simpson, M.D., Gautam Kanu Gandhi, M.D., Syed Ayub Mazher, M.D., Darren Flamick, M.D., Kenneth Starnes, M.D., Rajesh Sethi, M.D., Chandra Lingisetty, M.D., Timothy Dietrich, D.O., Keith Coward, M.D., Daniel Clark, M.D., Raymond Hartman, M.D. and John Doe’s 1-25 for negligence.
According to the complaint, Kenneth Elliot began experiencing shortness of breath and went to the Emergency Room operated by Ozark Health Center on May 16, 2019. Elliot was told he had mild congestive heart failure, which was causing the shortness of breath. On May 17, 2019, Elliot allegedly returned to the E.R., feeling dizzy and an overall weakness in his body.
He was treated by Simpson and Sethi and given a CT scan that showed no hemorrhage and no cerebral infarction but did not rule out a clot in the left middle cerebral artery, the suit says.
On May 17, 2019 Elliott was transported by ambulance to Baptist Health where Flamik did an intake examination due to Elliot experiencing vertigo, near loss of consciousness, weakness and numbness in his right arm and leg. Sears prescribed a medication to help with the vertigo, the suit says.
Before being admitted to Baptist Health, Elliot was given an anti-coagulant, and upon leaving Baptist Health was given another blood thinning medication, the suit says. Both Ozark Health and Baptist health knew Elliot had a pacemaker, the suit says.
On May 21, 2019, Elliot "with instructions to take three separate blood thinners," passed out and struck his head on a file cabinet and then the floor, causing a laceration on his head and arm, the suit says. Pamela then took Elliott to the Ozark Health facility for another CT scan, and he was released, the suit says.
Pamela alleged that after returning home, the bleeding had not stopped, so she took her husband back to Ozark Health. Hartman performed an operation and inserted 12 staples into Elliott’s head wound, the suit says.
On May 22, 2019, Elliott returned to the Ozark Health Center for "difficulty speaking, the right side of his face was drooping, and he was having problems with his right hand." Elliott was then sent to Baptist Health Little Rock via Medflight helicopter where it was concluded he had suffered a major stroke and had a large bleed inside his brain, the suit says.
Dr. Ghandi allegedly recommended a “full Coumadin reversal and suggested Mannitol, Keppra and Cardene for blood pressure management.” Elliott was soon declared brain dead and died on May 23, 2019.
Pamela Elliott seeks recovery of damages, punitive damages, jointly and severally, on behalf of the estate, and the statutory beneficiaries for attorneys’ fees and costs. Pamela Elliott is represented by Daniel Holland of Poynter Tucker.
Circuit Court of Van Buren County case number 71CV-21-62 C20D01