Thursday 20 August 2015

Woman sues clinic for getting flu shot instead of birth control injection


Yesenia Pacheco and her 3-year-old daughter, Sandra (C)kirotv
A Seattle woman, Yesenia Pacheco, is said to be suing a Seattle community clinic for giving her a flu shot instead of a birth control injection, KiroTV reports. She claims the staff of the clinic made the mistake of swapping the injections, leading to an unwanted pregnancy.
Not only is 3-year-old Sandra not planned, but also, Pacheco claims, Sandra was born because of the negligence by employees at NeighborCare Health in Seattle.
Given the clinic is federally funded, a civil lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court against the government.
KiroTV stated that according to the lawsuit, Pacheco was getting the Depo-Provera birth control injection every three months at the clinic. On some visits, the lawsuit claims, the clinic failed to maintain adequate charting by sometimes not noting Pacheco had been receiving the shots at all. Apparently on one of such visits, she was given a flu shot as against the birth control injection. Her attorneys have a chart showing where she was billed for the influenza injection.
Nearly three months later, Pacheco went back to the clinic for another birth control injection, only to be told she had received a flu shot instead on her previous appointment. A pregnancy test at the clinic turned up positive.
"I asked what happened,” said Pacheco, in Spanish. “They said you are 2 1/2 months pregnant. You don't have to have it. You won't have to pay anything."
She says she always communicated effectively in Spanish with staff, but the doctor told her she didn't know how the "miscommunication" happened.
"The manager said, 'What do you want me to do? Fire them?'" said Pacheco.
After a difficult pregnancy, Sandra was born in 2012 with a brain malformation affecting motor and speech called unilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria.

Seattle community clinic where the mistake took place   (C)kirotv
Pacheco's attorneys Steve Alvarez and Mike Maxwell say the clinic's failures should legally be considered the cause of the Sandra being born into a "wrongful life”…“as a direct and proximate result of Defendant’s negligent acts and/or omissions to perform the medical care with due care.”
"She loves the child, but she was put in a position she did not want to be in," said attorney Mike Maxwell.
Sandra's parents now have to administer medication to avoid seizures twice a day.
They are suing for an unspecified amount, they say, for medical bills and pain and suffering.

1 comment:

  1. Very sensitive issue. I hope the girl doesnt feel unwanted

    ReplyDelete