CHARLESTON – A Fayette County man is suing Charleston Area Medical Center after he claims it is responsible for his wife's death.
Dr. Robert B. Shin was also named as a defendant in the suit.
On April 21, 2013, Linda Lou Whipkey was admitted the CAMC and due to a decline in her condition and a concern for a bowel obstruction, Shin was consulted to assess, provide recommendations and treatment to her, according to a complaint filed in Kanawha Circuit Court.
Leonard Whipkey claims Shin evaluated his wife on April 23, 2013, and ordered no testing to investigate her abdominal complication and he did not consider the abdominal x-ray report Linda Whipkey had the previous day.
If Shin had considered the abdominal x-ray, he would not have issued dietary progression orders for Linda Whipkey as it was not safe to order dietary progression orders for her, according to the suit.
Leonard Whipkey claims Shin was wrong in dismissing Linda Whipkey's problems as being caused by her eating habits and lectured her about a post-gastric bypass oral intake restriction.
Linda Whipkey had suffered a gastric perforation and Shin did not perform surgery to repair the perforation until April 26, 2013, according to the suit.
Leonard Whipkey claims the delay in investigating and performing surgery for Linda Whipkey's gastric perforation caused her to suffer a significant infectious abdominal abscess, persistent abdominal infections, recurrent gastric content leakage, ongoing sepsis, fistula formation that ran from her abdomen to her lungs and eventually her death on Feb. 22, 2014.
For the last year of her life, Linda Whipkey require numerous surgical procedures, drain therapy and intensive antibiotic treatment, according to the suit.
Leonard Whipkey claims Shin's treatment of his wife deviated from the appropriate standard of medical care.
CAMC is vicariously liable for Shin's negligence, as he is an employee or contract agent of the hospital's, according to the suit.
Leonard Whipkey is seeking compensatory damages. He is being represented by Tony L. O'Dell and Cheryl A. Fisher of Tiano O'Dell.
The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 15-C-1135