Daniel E. Holloway
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Emory Geriatric Primary Care complaint alleges critical laboratory results went unreviewed before cardiac arrest and death

The complaint alleges that after a stroke patient was discharged from East Cobb Center for Nursing and Healing to home-health services through Interim Healthcare, Inc., his primary care physician at Emory Geriatric Primary Care, Jorge Isaac Pena Garcia, MD, ordered laboratory studies that Laboratory Corporation of America reported on May 2, 2024 with an alert-flagged hemoglobin of 6.4 g/dL. No Emory Geriatric Primary Care, East Cobb, or Interim Healthcare record shows that any clinician acted on those results over the following eleven days, and the patient was admitted to Emory University Hospital Midtown on May 13, 2024 and died on May 16, 2024.

System
Emory Geriatric Primary Care
Facility
Emory Geriatric Primary Care
Providers involved
Emory Healthcare, Inc. / Emory Geriatric Primary Care / Jorge Isaac Pena Garcia, MD / Pinkesh Amrish Bhuta, MD / East Cobb Center for Nursing and Healing / Interim Healthcare, Inc. / Laboratory Corporation of America / Emory University Hospital Midtown
Pattern
Alleged failure to review, communicate, and act on alert-flagged outpatient laboratory results for a home-health patient
Harm
Alleged untreated kidney failure, anemia, and metabolic acidosis, hyperkalemic cardiac arrest, and death

Overview

This page concerns a public complaint alleging that primary-care, skilled-nursing, and home-health providers failed to review or act on critical laboratory results for eleven days before a home-health patient died.

Chronology

The complaint alleges as follows:

  1. The patient was hospitalized at Emory University Hospital Midtown after a January 2024 stroke and transferred on February 2, 2024 to East Cobb Center for Nursing and Healing.
  2. The patient was discharged home on April 4, 2024 under orders signed by Pinkesh Amrish Bhuta, MD, naming Jorge Isaac Pena Garcia, MD of Emory Geriatric Primary Care as his primary care physician.
  3. Home-health services through Interim Healthcare, Inc. began on April 5, 2024, and Dr. Pena Garcia ordered repeat laboratory studies at an April 15, 2024 telehealth visit.
  4. LabCorp reported critically abnormal results on May 2, 2024, including an alert-flagged hemoglobin of 6.4 g/dL, and no Emory Geriatric Primary Care, East Cobb, or Interim Healthcare record documents review, communication, or escalation of those results before May 13, 2024.
  5. The patient was admitted to Emory University Hospital Midtown on May 13, 2024, suffered cardiac arrests on May 15 and May 16, 2024, and died, with hyperkalemia listed on the death certificate.

Alleged failures

The complaint alleges the following failures:

  • Dr. Pena Garcia, Dr. Bhuta, and the home-health providers failed to timely review, communicate, and respond to the May 2, 2024 critical findings.
  • The Emory entities, Interim Healthcare, Inc., East Cobb Center for Nursing and Healing, and Laboratory Corporation of America lacked reasonable systems for receiving, reviewing, and communicating critical laboratory results.
  • The complaint pleads medical malpractice, vicarious liability, institutional negligence, and wrongful death, and states that an expert affidavit under O.C.G.A. ยง 9-11-9.1 is attached.

Entities and tags

Emory Healthcare, Inc.Emory Geriatric Primary CareInterim Healthcare, Inc.East Cobb Center for Nursing and HealingLaboratory Corporation of AmericaEmory University Hospital MidtownHome-health servicesCritical laboratory resultsHyperkalemiaPancytopeniaChronic kidney diseaseCardiac arrestCommunication or follow-up failureDelayed treatmentWrongful deathGeriatricsPrimary careHome health careSkilled nursing care