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Michael Jackson's
Hospital Stay Caused Woman's Death, Family Alleges
02.25.2005
They believe
a room change to accommodate singer led to patient's heart
attacks. |
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Michael Jackson
(file) |
Did Michael Jackson's recent overnight stay
at a hospital contribute to another patient's death? Her family says
yes, and told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Friday that they blame
the hospital for moving an elderly patient being treated for a
heart
attack to accommodate the singer, since she had two
more heart attacks and then died. They plan on suing Jackson and the
hospital.
Jackson was admitted to the Marian Medical Center
in Santa Maria, California, on February 15 for "flulike symptoms and
some vomiting," according to his attending physician, Dr. Chuck
Merrill (see "Michael
Jackson, Suffering From Flu, Rushed To Hospital"). Family
members had been told that 74-year-old Manuela Gomez Ruiz's heart
was functioning at 30 percent and other organs were failing. But,
they say, she was then taken off the machine ventilator, with her
breathing assisted manually by a hand pump, so that Jackson could
have her larger trauma room, while she was relocated to a smaller
room.
"Why does she have to be moved if he's coming in for a
stomach flu?" Ruiz's daughter Maria Elena Ortiz, who was in the
room, told "Good Morning America." "I said, 'My mother just had a
heart attack, and I think it's more critical than a stomach flu.'
They didn't say anything."
Because of Jackson's arrival,
Ruiz's family says, they weren't allowed to come and go as freely
while visiting her. Only two visitors were allowed in her room at a
time, and once they were in the room, they could not leave and let
others in. They say his presence also meant they couldn't be with
Ruiz as she died. "This was the last time we might be able to talk
with our grandma," grandson Marcos Meraz told the program. "They
took that from us. They shouldn't have treated us any different.
Close the door, keep him in the room, let us spend time with our
grandma. We weren't there for him. We were there for my grandma."
Marian Medical Center issued a statement expressing its
condolences to the Ruiz family. Noting that patient confidentiality
forbids commenting on the specifics of individual patients' care,
the hospital said that it is "confident ... that our patients have
and continue to receive high-quality, compassionate and timely
care."
Jackson sent his condolences to the Ruiz family as
well, via a statement released by his publicist, Raymone Bain, who
also called it "outrageous" that the singer would be blamed, since
"he was a patient himself ... he had no authority or control."
Opening arguments in the Jackson child-molestation trial
begin Monday.
For full coverage of the Michael Jackson case,
see "Michael
Jackson Accused."
— Jennifer Vineyard
 For more on Michael
Jackson, check out the MTV News
Archive
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