Lawsuit Alleges Hospital Misidentification Resulted in Patient’s Death

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A lawsuit recently filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court accuses Conway Regional Medical of allowing a woman to pass away after misidentifying her as a different patient who had a DNR (do not resuscitate) order on file.

According to the lawsuit, Ms. Lucille Hammett, 78, was admitted to Conway Regional Medical Center in December 2021. due to COVID-related pneumonia.

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While hospitalized, Ms. Hammett faced respiratory distress, leading to cardiac arrest. Despite a code being called, the lawsuit contends that her family was informed it wasn’t her, when it was indeed Ms. Hammett. Allegedly, a mix-up in identity occurred between Ms. Hammett and another patient, notably one with a DNR.

“No heroic measures were taken because Defendants believed Ms. Hammett was another patient,” the lawsuit alleges.

The suit claims the other patient’s family was then told that their mother was dead but it was, in fact, Ms. Hammett. Meanwhile, Ms. Hammett’s family was told she was alive, but she was not.

Disturbingly, the alleged malpractice incident concluded with another family being allowed to say goodbye to Ms. Hammett. The suit says the plaintiffs, her family, were not allowed, “to hold her cooling body and say good-bye. This is intolerable in a civilized society.”

Sutter & Gillham, PLLC of Little Rock filed the lawsuit on December 22, 2023, on behalf of the estate of Lucille Hammett. Seeking damages exceeding $1 million and due relief, the defendants named include Conway Regional Medical Center, COPIC (a Risk Retention Group), Continental Casualty Company, as well as healthcare providers Jessi Wiedower, Taylor Anderson, and Arthur Reed Slayton, MD, alleged to have disregarded Ms. Hammett’s directives leading to her death.

The defendants, represented by Friday, Eldredge & Clark, LLP of Little Rock, filed an answer to the suit on January 2, 2024. To the claim that the defendants mistook Ms. Hammett’s identity for someone else, the answer says that the allegations are not known despite reasonable inquiry and, therefore, those allegations are denied. Further on, the answer to the claim states that Ms. Hammett coded twice and heroic measures were performed to revive her.

While the defendants go on to deny most of the allegations, they do make note several times that Ms. Hammett received life-saving measures on two occasions. It is with this noted that the defendants also acknowledge, “that another family identified Ms. Hammett as their mother.”

The defendants also seek to assert immunity due to the COVID-19 pandemic as made available by any executive orders and/or legislation.

A trial date has not been set in the case.

Read the full complaint here: Complaint

Read the full answer here: Answer