Accident Victim Says He Was Assaulted by Hospital Guards

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - An accident victim is claiming that hospital security guards forcibly kept him from leaving after he discovered he was slated for a surgery he didn't need.

Joseph Wheeler was admitted to Prince George's Hospital in Upper Marlboro, Md., after a July 23 car crash. Courthouse News Service reported he filed a case with the Prince George's County Court stating that when he woke up hungry the next day a nurse said he couldn't eat because he was scheduled for surgery.

She checked his identification bracelet and said he needed a "potentially cancerous mass removed from his chest." The bracelet, however, allegedly had a name that was different than his and appeared to be a female name and a birthdate 13 years before his.

He and his wife, Felicia Ann Wheeler, tried to leave the hospital but a nurse called for security and two "immediately hostile" security guards showed up.

As he continued to try to leave a guard shoved him hard into a wall and metal railing and swore at him, the news service reported. A series of incidents including more shoving continued when a security lieutenant admitted there was a mix-up but allegedly told guards not to let him leave unless he gave back the incorrect bracelet.

Wheeler reportedly spent three days at St. Mary's Hospital with four broken ribs, a sprained shoulder, a ruptured spleen and a concussion. The couple is seeking $3.2 million in compensatory damages and $9.5 million in punitive damages for assault and battery, false imprisonment and infliction of emotional distress.

For those who are concerned about hospital errors, the website Alternet.org profiled the book "The Empowered Patient."

Julia Hallisy, the book's author, lost a daughter through a series of events that started with a diagnosis of an eye cancer and included an operation to remove her right eye, a hospital-acquired infection that led to toxic-shock syndrome and an above-the-knee amputation. She died in 2000.

Hallisy wrote about how as many as 95,000 people die annually from adverse events ranging from infections to fatal drug reactions.

Among tips she suggests is looking over the "terms and conditions of service" on the consent form. Check to see if it says "attending physicians may be assisted by medical students, interns, residents and postgraduate fellows" and asks the signer to authorize treatment by these people.

She said to change it to authorize treatment "on an individual basis on an informed consent basis" and only "under the direct and daily supervision of an attending physician."