Los Angeles - The family of a woman who died earlier this year after collapsing on an emergency room's floor as she waited for treatment has filed a $45 million lawsuit against the county.
The lawsuit filed Monday in Superior Court claims negligence, medical malpractice and wrongful death on the part of Los Angeles County, county police and some of the staff at the county's Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital.
Edith Isabel Rodriguez, 43, died May 9 of a perforated bowel after writhing in pain on the floor for 45 minutes without receiving care. She was discharged and sat on a bench outside the facility, yelling in pain.
County officers who were called to respond took the woman back inside and tried to get a nurse to help, but she "did not show any concern," a police report said.
Officers then made a computer check and found that Rodriguez was wanted for a parole violation. She was arrested but became unresponsive as the officers took her in a wheelchair to a patrol car. She died in the emergency room.
The coroner's office ruled her death accidental.
The lawsuit claims Rodriguez's treatment "fell below the standard of care in the community."
The $45 million in damages represents $1 million for each "agonizing minute . . . she suffered and was deprived of health care," according to the complaint.
"She was a human being, and they treated her like an animal," said Franklin Casco Jr., an attorney who is representing Rodriguez's three adult children, Edmundo, Christina and Kimberly Rodriguez, all of Bakersfield. "She could have been saved," he said.
An attempt to leave an after-hours phone message for county counsel was unsuccessful.
King-Harbor has since closed, being downsized into an urgent care center after failing to meet federal standards for patient care. The officers who arrested her did not face criminal charges, after a review found they had decided the woman would receive medical treatment in jail instead.
The county-run hospital was built years after a 1965 riot to bring health care to the inner city.
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