Hospital Denies Responsibility in Wrongful Death Case

By Robert Carrier

Published on October 05, 2007

In August of this year, James Long's wife Svetlana went into labor nearly four months shy of a full-term pregnancy. She gave birth to triplets, Andrew, Lily, and Robert. The children were just over a pound each as a result of being born extremely premature. Andrew survived, but the daughter Lily only lived a day and Robert died a week after birth.

According to the lawsuit the Longs have filed against Kaiser Permanente San Diego, they allege that the hospital is understaffed, especially in the area of neonatal specialists, and this lack of care resulted in the death of their two children. Mr. Long further alleges that he urged the hospital to transfer Andrew, the only surviving child, to Rady's Children's Hospital, but the transfer was never made.

Dr. Steven Feitelberg, the assistant medical director of Kaiser Permanente San Diego, is in charge of the quality of care. He claims that neonatal experts from Rady's Children's Hospital visited the facility and reviewed Kaiser's care of the Long's children three times, and issued a letter stating their opinion that Kaiser exceeded the standard of care expected of health care providers. Dr. Feitelberg also claims that the hospital is appropriately staffed with neonatologists on call 24 hours a day.

Andrew Long, the sole surviving triplet, is suffering cranial bleeding, and is expected to suffer long-term neurological damage. Kaiser has up to 30 days to respond to the suit, but Dr. Feiterberg has stated that the fact that one of the children survived is a testament to the high quality of care provided by the hospital.

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