Author sues Christus St. Vincent, claiming negligence

Woman had dangerous reaction to medication in ER, was revived despite ‘do-not-resuscitate’ directive, lawsuit says

A Santa Fe woman is accusing Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center of negligence in a lawsuit, saying the hospital gave her a pain medication that caused a dangerous allergic reaction and then violated her “do-not-resuscitate” directive by reviving her after the narcotic caused sudden cardiac arrest.

The complaint was filed recently in state District Court on behalf of author Jamie S. Sams, who writes about Native American spirituality.

Sams, who is of Cherokee and Seneca descent, according to an online biography, is perhaps best known for the Medicine Cards book and card deck she co-authored with fellow Santa Fe writer David Carson.

Sams’ complaint says she has a rare disorder called Dercum’s disease, which causes severely painful growths and has no cure or specific treatment.

In February 2016, Sams says in the complaint, she went to the Christus St. Vincent emergency room to seek pain control to ease the symptoms of her condition and was given Dilaudid, a brand name for hydromorphone, despite having warned medical staff that she was allergic to the opioid painkiller.

She had a severe reaction to the drug and went into cardiac arrest, the lawsuit says.

Exacerbating the error, she says in the suit, medical staff failed to follow her advance directive.

“Despite the fact that [Sams] had signed a double DNR indicating that she did not wish to be resuscitated or intubated,” the complaint says, “the emergency room staff provided such services … something she adamantly did not want.

“As a result of being revived,” the suit continues, Sams “continues to experience severe pain, disability and limitations and further will incur extensive expenses throughout the remainder of her life.”

Sams’ attorney in the civil case, David M. Berlin, did not return calls seeking comment.

David Grady, an attorney who said he has worked with Sams for years as an estate planner and wrote the health directive for her ordering doctors not to resuscitate, responded to calls on behalf of Berlin.

But Grady said he wasn’t certain about the meaning of the term “double DNR” in the complaint.

It could refer to two different types of directives, he said, one created by a patient with their estate planner and another offered by or completed in a hospital.

Grady, who wasn’t involved in drafting the complaint, said he couldn’t offer any other comment on the case.

Along with the hospital, the lawsuit names Dr. Jamie Gagan as a defendant.

Gagan, employed by the medical contractor HealthFront Emergency Physicians, works in the Christus St. Vincent emergency room.

HealthFront officials did not respond to a message seeking comment on the case Friday.

Christus St. Vincent spokesman Arturo Delgado said Friday he could not comment specifically on Sams’ case but said the hospital does have a “robust” advance directives policy that includes forms allowing patients to express their desire not to be resuscitated or intubated.

Such directives become part of a patient’s medical records.

“When a patient is seen in an emergency room setting,” Delgado wrote in an email, “attending staff focus on immediately administering care appropriate to a person’s medical condition.”