Chicago Injury Attorney Blog

In Cook County Circuit Court, the mother of Joey Furio, a 15-year-old boy who died from a drug overdose in 2004, has filed another Illinois wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Park Ridge. Abruzzo had sued the Chicago suburb in 2005 but the circuit court ruled that because of Illinois’s Local Government and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, the city was immune from the civil lawsuit and the paramedics involved in Joey’s care could not be held liable for failing to diagnose or evaluate his condition.

The Cook County Appellate Court upheld the lower court’s ruling. However, last October, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned the decision to dismiss the case.

Abruzzo’s wrongful death lawsuit accuses paramedics of failing to give her son life support or take him to the hospital when the family contacted 911 early in the morning on October 31, 2004 and told them the boy was unresponsive. Joey’s father, Lawrence Furio, administered CPR to his son but the paramedics that arrived left. The lawyer representing Park Ridge claims they left because Lawrence told them they should go and that his son didn’t need medical attention.

The complaint, however, says the paramedics either knew or should have known that someone who needed CPR was in a life threatening state and they should have provided Joey with advanced life support. Abruzzo also says that the paramedics were either told about or should have found out about Joey’s drug abuse history when they responded to the 911 call.

Paramedics were called back eight hours later and that is when they took the teenager to the hospital. He died the following day. The cause of his death was opiate and cocaine intoxication.

Paramedic Malpractice
Paramedics are supposed to provide patients with a certain duty of care. When medical mistakes happen, such as failure to administer the proper care, failure to diagnose, administering the wrong drug, delayed ambulance arrival, delay in taking someone to the hospital, or failure to follow the proper medical and safety procedures, the injured party and his or her family may have grounds for filing a Chicago medical malpractice claim.

Another lawsuit filed in 2004 Park Ridge death, Sun-Times News Group, February 16, 2009

Medical Malpractice, Justia

Related Web Resource:
Local Government and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, Illinois General Assembly

Park Ridge, Illinois