Medical malpractice suit filed against urgent care facilty by mother following daughter's death

NEW ORLEANS - A New Orleans woman is suing the urgent care facility that improperly treated her young daughter for nausea and vomiting claiming their alleged negligence resulted in her subsequent death.

Belinda Lacey filed suit against East After Hours Urgent Care and Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health Systems Management Services LLC in the Orleans Parish Civil District Court on Dec. 8, 2014.

The plaintiff claims that on Jan. 20, 2012 she brought her daughter to the East After Hours Urgent Care clinic following complaints of nausea and vomiting. Lacey states her daughter was diagnosed with a gastric infection and sent home that night having been prescribed nausea medication. However, the next day the plaintiff claims to have brought her daughter back to the clinic after she had become unresponsive and lost her pulse. Following CPR, the child was taken to Tulane Medical Center, shortly after which she died.

The plaintiff asserts that the defendant acted negligently in not ordering lab work upon examination of the child which would have indicated high glucose and potassium levels. The plaintiff also claims that the patient was not able to receive resuscitation medications due to the urgent care center failing to establish an IV site.

The plaintiff seeks an unspecified amount in damages for funeral expenses, wrongful death and mental anguish.

The plaintiff is represented by the New Orleans-based Law Offices of Pius A. Obioha & Associates.

This case has been assigned to Division C Judge Sidney H. Cates IV.

Case no. 2014-11635.