Raymond Williams – Sacramento, California
As told by his wife, Jackie Williams:
My spouse Raymond Williams passed at (Sacramento) Mercy Hospital in January 1994. He had been prescribed the wrong medicine and, ultimately, his kidneys shut down due to it. He was given over 60 different pills in five months. He became a dialysis patient as a result. When the doctor gave him potassium, his heart convulsed. A dialysis patient should not be given potassium without the dialysis doctor’s permission, because it accelerates the heart rate. But the heart doctor didn’t consult with the dialysis doctor.
Raymond was let out of the hospital. They should have kept him to get his heart regulated correctly. After he went back, they didn’t see his bowels move for five days. They hadn’t moved for two days at home, either. All he needed was an enema, but the doctors did not give him this in the hospital until a total of seven days without a bowel movement. Raymond died of peritonitis, because he couldn’t get the poison of his waste out of his system. He died horribly.
In California, I cannot get an attorney to take my case because of I have no money to hire them and they will not work on a contingency basis. The lawyers says I can’t get much in pain and suffering in California. Raymond’s life expectancy was only five years, according to the lawyer, and California’s compensation and contingency fee caps made it worthless. Life is life. Raymond should have been entitled to good care, but his right to live was denied him. Our constitution says he had the right to life and the pursuit of happiness. He was denied this. I feel it’s not fair that because a person is 63 with high blood pressure that he can be considered too old to live. But this is exactly what an arbitrary compensation cap does.
I had to file my case Pro Per because I feel they are responsible for this good man’s death. One error after another. They even said they were sorry. He was to come home until the poison from the bowel got into the abdominal wall. He gagged on green pus for two days until they did anything about it. I stayed beside him five days before he died with no knowledge of what to expect. Jail birds die with more dignity.
My husband has had the worst medical care a human being could get. I’m afraid to get sick. My husband’s right to live was taken. I feel that my husband would still be alive if he had gone to a different hospital with more competent help. Now no attorneys will touch my case because I don’t have any money. The state of California says I have the right to sue, but it doesn’t tell me what my right is to representation. I am denied representation. They have taken that away too. I have no rights and no husband.
