Ellen Sandbo went to Valley Medical Center on January 31, 2006 for a routine procedure to relieve lower-back pain. Sandbo showed immediate improvement after the late-morning operation, standing and walking across her hospital room that evening. According to court testimony, though, Sandbo - a former nurse for more than 50 years - began experiencing severe pain in her legs later that evening, and repeatedly asked the nurse to call her doctor.
The hospital's nursing staff did not alert Dr. Thompson that Ellen was in trouble, depriving him of the opportunity to help Ellen," Gellatly noted. Thompson said in court testimony that he asked the nurse why he wasn't called at the onset of Sandbo's pain and the nurse admitted the error, saying "I should have called" -- a statement the nurse later denied making.
Sandbo spent the next three months in a skilled nursing facility before being sent to an adult family home, and then died on April 29, 2009 from what her family believes were complications of her paralysis. "They just stonewalled us at every turn, showing no concern for my mother or her situation," said Sandbo's son. "They dismissed her as an old lady with exaggerated complaints, but the jury told the hospital that the elderly deserves the same level of care as everyone else."
"She was not just a little old lady with exaggerated complaints, and the hospital should have taken care of her," said Gellatly. "We hope this will send a message that the elderly should get the same level of care."
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