EL MONTE : Couple Awarded $624,774 in Death of Son at Hospital
An El Monte couple have been awarded $624,774 in a malpractice lawsuit alleging that Greater El Monte Community Hospital caused the death of their 5-year-old son.
A Pasadena Superior Court jury found in favor of Maria and Jose Huizar, whose son, Jose, died Oct. 17, 1988, after a blood test that went awry.
The couple’s lawyer, Steven B. Effres contended that the boy was crying and screaming during the blood test, and accidentally spit at a laboratory technician. One technician pushed the boy’s head forward, then another tried to push his head backward. The boy, who suffered from a congenital heart defect, passed out and stopped breathing.
The technicians, who were trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, did not try to revive the boy because they thought he had only fainted. About an hour later, Jose died in the hospital’s emergency room.
The hospital’s lawyer, Margaret Cahill, said the judgment will be appealed.
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