BECKLEY – The estate of a 45-year-old Greenbrier County man says doctors at a Beckley hospital were too slow in treating his heart attack, which resulted in his death.
Jaime Burns, as adminstratrix of the estate of Dennis Ray Burns II, filed her complaint January 23 in Raleigh Circuit Court against Raleigh General Hospital, Heart & Vascular Medical Center, Dr. Paul Goyt and Dr. Hamo Abdrhman. Jaime Burns is Dennis Burns’ widow.
L. Dante diTrapano, one of the attorneys representing the estate, called the situation appalling.
diTrapano
“This is horrible medical care by the doctor and the hospital staff,” diTrapano told The West Virginia Record. “We intend on finding out why they let this young man die on their watch.”
According to the complaint, Dennis Ray Burns II was admitted to Greenbrier Valley Medical Center on March 6, 2022, with ongoing chest pressure radiating down the inside of both arms, chest pain, lightheadedness, shortness of breath and nausea. An EKG showed Burns was having a heart attack, and the decision was made to transfer him to Raleigh General.
Raleigh General accepted the transfer, but “had issues contacting the cardiologist so there was somewhat of a delay,” according to the complaint. Hamo was the interventional radiologist on call for RGH.
Burns was air transported to RGH, and Goyt was his attending physician there. The complaint says EKGs showed abnormalities, and Burns continued to have chest pain. Medical records show Burns was not transferred to the cardiac catheterization lab until 10:05 a.m., according to the complaint. That is more than an hour he arrived at RGH and more than three hours since he arrived at GVMC.
“By the time Mr. Burns arrived at the catheterization lab accompanied by RGH Emergency Department staff, Mr. Burns was ‘not talking, lethargic, moved onto table, seizure like activity noted with rigid arms pulled up to chest, not breathing, face discolored,’” according to the complaint.
Hamo arrived in the lab five minutes after Burns did, the complaint states. CPR was initiated, but Burns soon was pronounced dead.
The complaint says Burns died from a myocardial infarction because of the defendants’ negligence.
The estate seeks compensatory, general, special and punitive damages as well as pre- and post-judgment interests, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
The estate is being represented by diTrapano and Timothy D. Houston of Calwell Luce diTrapano in Charleston and by Dr. Richard D. Lindsay and Richard D. Lindsay II of Tabor Lindsay & Associates in Charleston.
Raleigh Circuit Court case number 24-C-27
