Suit Claims Hospital's Mistake About Patient's Religion Led To Withholding Treatment

Courthouse News Service reports on a lawsuit filed last month (Oct. 13)  in a Tennessee state trial court alleging that a hospital's mistake about a patient's religious beliefs led to the patient's death.  Merle Piper was diagnosed with kidney failure, but for a number of days was denied potentially life-saving treatment because his medical chart incorrectly stated that he was a Jehovah's Witness.  Doctors though that meant he objected to such treatment.  The lawsuit against Cumberland Medical Center in Crossville, Tenn., two doctors and other John Doe defendants seeks damages for wrongful death and medical malpractice.