Sylvia Fuller
Tyler, Texas
Sylvia Fuller lived in Tyler, Texas. Her three children, David, Karen and Clay are grown, and Sylvia was happiest with all of her children around her. She was dearly loved by her family and her friends.
Sylvia attended a family picnic on the afternoon of August 7, 2004. Early the next morning, her daughter Karen took her to the emergency room because she was vomiting uncontrollably and had extremely high blood pressure and severe abdominal pain.
After blood tests, an abdominal x-ray and a 12-lead EKG, the emergency room doctor diagnosed her condition as food poisoning even though nobody else who had attended the family picnic had fallen ill.
The doctor did not perform a CT scan, despite her symptoms. It took several doses of anti-nausea medication to stop her vomiting. She was also given morphine for her severe abdominal pain, which the doctor claimed was simply due to the repeated vomiting. Despite Karen’s reluctance, Sylvia was discharged from the hospital thirty minutes after she was given the morphine shot.
Sylvia was unable to walk or care for herself, so Karen asked how she was supposed to get her mother into her home. The hospital personnel replied that they could help Sylvia into the car and after that she was on her own.
Karen took Sylvia home. Later that day, Sylvia fell out of bed, perhaps still disoriented from the morphine, and was unable to call for help. Karen and David began to worry after their mother did not answer repeated phone calls, so Karen drove to her mother’s house to check on her.
Sylvia died shortly after Karen arrived, approximately fourteen hours after being discharged. She died at 10:38 PM after vomiting copious amounts of what paramedics identified as old, dark blood.
The medical records from Sylvia’s emergency room visit revealed that she had elevated cardiac enzymes, a low potassium level, and an irregular heartbeat.
Her chart stated her irregular heartbeat was caused by a drug called Digitalis – except that Sylvia had never taken Digitalis, and as such, it was not listed with her other medications on her chart.
The medical records also indicated that Sylvia’s EKG results were abnormal, but neither Sylvia nor Karen were informed of that or of Sylvia’s elevated cardiac enzymes, the other indicator of a possible heart problem. Common practices suggest the emergency room doctor should have told them of the test results and conducted further tests, instead of simply sending her home.
Sylvia’s children miss her desperately, but Proposition 12 has blocked them from seeking justice for her death.
