In a bizarre lawsuit filed by family members, hospital staff are accused of propping up a dead patient to appear to be alive following dying during surgery.
Family members report that an unnamed 65-year-old woman was in “good health” before entering the Adena Health System in Chillicothe, Ohio, for a “routine heart catheterization.”
According to the Scioto Valley Guardian, the family became alarmed when they noticed discrepancies between hospital records and the death certificate which noted the time of death.
The New York Post reported that medical records show the woman died at 1 p.m., but the woman’s death certificate, completed in a post-surgical room, shows the time of death to be 3:05 p.m.
Family members accuse hospital staff of leading them into a post-surgery room to see their loved one propped up in a bed and staff telling them she could not recover and urging them to authorize the removal of life support, which they did at the behest of a physician.
Family members are seeking answers to the questions: What happened leading up to her death? Why had she been propped up to look “fake alive”? Why do medical records show she died two hours before the family saw her?
Dr. Jarrod Betz, a cardiologist, was the lead on the surgery. The Post reported that Betz has faced previous questions regarding his work and credentials.
Last May, the Post reported that Betz “performed at least three transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedures despite not being qualified to perform the specialized operation.”
One person reportedly died as a result of Betz lacerating an artery during the procedure.
The Post further reported, “at least 31 people have come forward accusing Betz of faking his credentials.”
An autopsy was ordered by the hospital, but the woman’s family requested an independent coroner conduct the autopsy after learning the coroner scheduled to conduct the procedure is an employee of Adena.
Adena Health System has not commented on the matter.
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