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Peru: A woman dies of pneumonia due to AH1N1, relatives to file a malpractice claim

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

A woman who had been diagnosed with the AH1N1 strain of flu a week ago, died yesterday due to pneumonia; she had been refused admittion to three hospitals in El Santa, a province of the Ancash region.

According to her family, Norma More Guardado (44) developed pneumonia while receiving antiviral treatment at home, having been refused admission to the regional hospital “La Caleta” in Chimbote because its ventilator was broken down.

She was then taken to the “Eleazar Guzmán Barrón” hospital, where she was again refused admission; her family was told that the hospital did not have the right equipment or rooms for AH1N1 patients; finally, she was also rejected at the Essalud Hospital in Chimbote.

Norma More was pronounced dead in an ambulance, while while being taken to a hospital in Lima.

“This is a case of medical malpractice. If she had received proper medical care, she would still be alive,” stated her daughter, Mirtha More.

The family announced that they are looking at the possibility of filing a claim for malpractice.

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# mericorps says :
7 September, 2009 [ 19:07 ]

1. I hope many health care staff and administrators go to jail for neglegent homicide over this one, but I am not holding my breath.

2. ...you do not die ON pneumonia, you die of or from diseases 

# mericorps says :
7 September, 2009 [ 23:25 ]

Mericorps,

You are correct that she should have been given assistance, I do not disagree with that. But many people die of pneumonia with no other complications, my mother died of it with no other diseases. Many thousands of Canadians die of it every year in Canada.

# mericorps says :
8 September, 2009 [ 09:27 ]

Now sure who you are since you logged in with my name, but I think it is pretty clear that a woman with Pneumonia would suffer stress from being carted around in an ambulance, clearly exhasterbating her condition.

You are right, she might have died anyway, but at least she would have died being treated, in a hospital, in a bead, probably with family around and probably with some relief from the pain.

# PriusOwner says :
8 September, 2009 [ 17:40 ]

I think we should really see alot of change taking place in Peru. I mean we are seeing a lot of conversations about how much money is being invested in Peru, and driving around Lima you see how the city has allocated millions of dollars in the medical field but individuals are yet seeing a change in medical practice. It's sad that alot will occur, but only for certain regions and not for a long duration. The truth is that Peru needs to see a major medical change occuring before they can ever expect their economy to grow and prosper.

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