HUNTINGTON – A Cabell County woman says she sustained a needlestick injury at a Huntington hospital.
Mary Coleman filed her complaint October 2 in Cabell Circuit Court against Cabell Huntington Hospital.
According to the complaint, Coleman was at the hospital October 25, 2021, because her son was having surgery. She had changed her son’s diaper, sat in a chair, crossed her leg and leaned against the side of the hospital bed.
“She felt a sharp pinch and found a needle sticking out of his bed sheet,” the complaint states. “She then grabbed her son and yelled for a nurse. She looked at her leg and saw where the needle had penetrated. The nurse, upon arrival to the hospital room, removed the needle from the bed and said she needed to find her supervisor and left.”
Ten minutes later, she says the nurse returned with a package of wipes and told Coleman to wipe off her leg. A supervisor later came to the room and apologized for the situation.
“Her son was taken into surgery and an occupation health representative of the hospital wanted to meet with her in a private room,” the complaint states. “She was later told by defendant about the possible exposure of blood borne pathogens and recommended she take certain medications. She was told to refrain from unprotected sex with her husband until the medication was complete.”
When her blood was drawn for testing, she says the bloodwork request had her last name as Lambert instead of Coleman. Lambert is her son’s last name. A hospital employee named Beth Hughes then filled out an incident report. Coleman was told the medication she needed couldn’t be ordered there and that she had to go to the Emergency Room to qualify for the prescription.
After visiting the ER, she returned to the waiting area for her son’s surgery. While she was in the post-surgical area with her son, a nurse brought her the medication before she was given an appointment with an infectious disease doctor.
Coleman says she began getting headaches, felt sick and was vomiting. Two days after the incident, Coleman says a doctor told her the risk of her contracting a blood borne pathogen was probably low, and he told her the sickness was a side effect of the medicine.
She says she was having trouble sleeping as well as experiencing headaches, nausea, joint pain and panic attacks. Her primary care physician prescribed her Celexa and told her to seek counseling.
On December 2, 2021, Coleman learned she was pregnant. She stopped taking Celexa and began taking Prozac. She also learned she had a stress-induced stomach ulcer, and she says she was concerned about miscarriage.
Coleman accuses the hospital of failure to provide a safe environment in the surgical daycare department, failed to dispose of a needle in a safe manner, failed to properly treat her for the needlestick injury and did not properly describe the type of needle involved as required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
She seeks compensatory damages for her physical and emotional injuries as well as punitive damages, interests and court costs.
Coleman is being represented by attorney Kevin Davis of Charleston.
Cabell Circuit Court case number 23-C-358
