Cheyenna M. Costello in a photo with her husband, Sean Costello. (Courtesy of the family’s lawyer)
The family of a Washington state mother is suing a hospital after she had seizures and died while waiting 4 ½ hours in an emergency room lobby where she had been taken by ambulance for stomach pains, a lawsuit says.
The family of Cheyenna M. Costello, 41, filed the wrongful death lawsuit on Oct. 12 in King County Superior Court over her death at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett in 2022.
“The ultimate goal of the lawsuit is to make sure that no other family experiences such a tragic loss under similar circumstances at Providence Everett,” attorney Marlena Grundy told McClatchy News.
Court documents outline the events from the evening of Nov. 2, 2022, when Costello experienced “worsening of the stomach pains, vomiting, and diarrhea that had started earlier that evening.”
Her husband called 911, and fire personnel arrived to find her on the couch, breathing heavily, with abdominal pain.
She was taken to the emergency room at around 7:19 p.m. Once there, her information was entered into the hospital’s system, and she was put in a wheelchair in the lobby because there were no open seats. She was given blankets to stay warm and assessed on a hospital triage list as “urgent,” court documents said.
“A medical doctor documented Ms. Costello as critically ill with significant risk to decompensate and even death, requiring prompt bedside evaluation and intervention,” the lawsuit said.
A comprehensive metabolic panel test to check her electrolyte levels was ordered when she arrived but was not completed until about five hours later, “apparently after she had died,” the lawsuit said.
A doctor noted the test showed she was severely hypokalemic, a condition that occurs when a person’s potassium level in the blood is too low. A coroner’s report noted she had acute and chronic pancreatitis with a pseudocyst, resulting in probable “cardiac dysrhythmia,” or an abnormal or irregular heartbeat.
“Had the metabolic tests been timely performed, staff would have had enough time to diagnose her pancreatitis and correct the potassium imbalance,” the lawsuit said. “Yet, despite these scores and her abnormal vital signs, she was left to languish in the emergency department lobby for about four-and-one-half hours without proper monitoring and/or assessment until she started seizing and died from an easily treatable condition.”
The lawsuit alleges the defendants were negligent in their failure to “timely room, examine, test, warn, monitor, intervene, and otherwise render the necessary care” Costello.
“Healthcare providers/professionals did not meet the standard of care to keep Ms. Costello safe by mitigating preventable and predictable harm,” the lawsuit said.
It seeks an undisclosed amount for the loss of companionship, love, affection, support, care, society, guidance, and the destruction of the parent-child relationship.
A fundraising page set up by her mother said her death left “a hole in our hearts” and her husband scrambling to support himself and two children on a single income.
“The best way to honor her is a show of support,” she wrote. “Sean and the kids would appreciate any assistance you can offer to keep the heat on, the food on the table, mortgage and car payments current until he can sort out his options and resources.”
Kristy Carrington, the CEO of Providence Swedish North Puget Sound, which includes Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, said in a statement that “we are deeply saddened by this incident, and our deepest sympathies are with the patient’s family and loved ones,” the Everett Herald reported.
A hospital spokesperson said, “Providence Swedish is committed to maintaining a safe environment for all patients and caregivers and providing high-quality care that respects the dignity of every patient,” without commenting on the lawsuit, citing patient privacy laws.
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