HUNTINGTON – A Cabell County woman blames Cabell Huntington Hospital and a nurse practitioner there for a missed diagnosis that led to her husband’s death.
Denise Prichard filed her complaint for herself and as administratrix of the estate of James Wilbur Prichard, in Cabell Circuit Court against Cabell Huntington Hospital Inc. and Melissa Dixon, APRN, NP-C.
According to the complaint, Mr. Prichard went to Huntington Internal Medicine Group on January 24, 2020, for lower back pain. He was evaluated, had X-rays taken and given an injection. But he had no relief, so he was sent to Cabell Huntington’s Emergency Department for further evaluation and treatment.
The complaint says Dixon performed “only a limited physical evaluation” on him, and it says his abdomen was not examined. She ordered medication and gave them to Prichard herself. Three minutes later, Dixon discharged Prichard.
“In addition to completely ignoring the fact that Mr. Prichard had been sent to the emergency department for a kidney stone evaluation and full workup, NP Dixon failed to reevaluate whether the medications she had given less than 5 minutes earlier had improved James’s 10/10 pain,” the complaint states. “Mr. Prichard was discharged with a diagnosis of strain of the lumbar region with prescriptions for cyclobenzaprine, naproxen and prednisone.”
On January 27, 2020, Prichard returned to the hospital with a rupture of his undiagnosed abdominal aortic aneurysm. A CT scan showed a 10+ cm aneurysm, and he was taken for an emergency endovascular aneurysm repair.
Although the surgery was successful, the complaint says Prichard had a complicated and extensive postoperative course. He died March 13, 2020.
If Dixon had met the standard of care and performed the full workup, the complaint says "she would have identified James Prichard's 10cm aneurysm" and that "Prichard would have been an excellent candidate for a repair of his aneurysm ... and would most likely have had a successful repair at that time."
It says survival rates for a repair before rupture are 95-98 percent, but it drops to about 50 percent following the rupture.
The complaint accuses Dixon of medical negligence, and it accuses Dixon and Cabell Huntington of wrongful death and loss of consortium. It also accuses Cabell Huntington of respondeat superior.
Denise Prichard seeks compensatory damages for her husband’s mental and physical pain and suffering before his death as well as for all hospital, medical, funeral, burial and estate administration expenses. She also seeks damages for her pain and suffering and for her loss of services, comfort and society and for his lost earnings. She also seeks interests, court costs and attorney fees.
She is being represented by Joshua Pearson and Brian Prim of Prim Law Firm in Hurricane. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Chris Chiles.
Cabell Circuit Court case number 22-C-20