Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles is facing a $19 million civil lawsuit for brain damage and un-consented surgery. Eduardo Rivas, a 43 year-old Spanish speaking roofing inspector, claims that he never consented to the surgery that he says left his son brain-damaged. This claim is the root of the lawsuit.
In 2007, a doctor at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles told Eduardo Rivas that his 6-month-old son, Nathan, needed surgery to repair double hernias. Rivas had to decide on his own as his wife had died of breast cancer soon after Nathan’s birth. Nathan had been born four months premature.
Nathan had been transferred to the hospital from Glendale Memorial Hospital the evening Rivas got the call from a doctor and a Spanish-speaking social worker saying his son needed an operation.
Rivas said he was told that the surgery was “minor.” He claims that he was told that the only thing that could happen was an infection, which was treatable.
Rivas said he refused consent. The next day, Nov. 16, 2007, doctors operated on Nathan. Hospital officials contend that Rivas consented verbally. But investigators with the California Department of Public Health found the hospital could not supply any records proving that Rivas consented to the surgery, according to a report released last month.
Although Nathan was scheduled for morning surgery, doctors postponed it until that afternoon “due to inability to get consent,” according to a physician’s progress note cited in the state report.
A doctor attempted to get Rivas to consent to the surgery about 7 a.m., according to the state investigators’ account. When Rivas refused, the doctor told him to return to the hospital later that day “for further discussion,” according to nursing notes. Rivas said he refused the surgery because he was nervous about the procedure, particularly the anesthesia. He said he was never offered a Spanish interpreter while Nathan was at the hospital.
Rivas testified that he returned but could not reach his son’s doctors by phone from the hospital lobby. A consent form completed at 9 a.m. was signed by a nurse and the surgeon, Dr. Dean Anselmo, but did not include Rivas’ signature, according to the state report. Hospital spokesman Steve Rutledge said Rivas consented to the surgery in English during a phone call with Anselmo that morning that was witnessed by a nurse. Rutledge said hospital staff offered Rivas a Spanish interpreter, but he refused. Investigators found that the hospital’s failure to provide a Spanish interpreter violated hospital policy.
After the surgery, Nathan, who had arrived at the hospital with a nasal breathing tube, became dependent on a ventilator and feeding tube, according to Rivas’ lawyer, Nathaniel Friedman. However, hospital officials attribute Nathan’s complications to his premature birth, which left him “frail,” with chronic lung disease and neurological problems.
Rivas believes the damage was caused by his son’s reaction to anesthesia.
By law, if damages are awarded in the case, Medi-Cal, the state health insurance program which has paid about $913,000 for Nathan’s care, must be reimbursed first.
Rivas, who also has a 10-year-old son, said Nathan’s nursing care alone costs $1,100 a month. Nathan, nearly 3, has the mental capacity of a baby.
