Levaquin (levofloxacin) and Related

Re: Levaquin's interaction with Coumadin

Posted Saturday, 6 March 2004, at 1:24 p.m.

In Response To: Re: Levaquin's interaction with Coumadin

This appears to be something that occurs in many patients. See article below http://www.njherald.com/news/newspro/viewnews.cgi?
newsid1078495795,56161,

Wife of deceased inmate sues county jail, Newton Hospital

Posted Friday, March 5, 2004 by Webmaster

BY PAT MINDOS
Herald Staff Writer

NEWTON — The wife of a former county jail inmate who died from uncontrolled bleeding has filed a civil action against the Sussex County jail and Newton Memorial Hospital.
Patricia Civil, of Vernon, filed the lawsuit this week naming Sussex County, the county sheriff’s department, the Keogh-Dwyer Correctional Facility, the hospital and employees of both the hospital and the jail.
Sheriff Robert E. Untig declined to comment. “We can’t comment on litigation,” he said on Thursday.
Civil’s husband, Stanley Ives, died at Morristown Memorial Hospital on Sept. 25, 2002.
The lawsuit states he died from massive uncontrolled bleeding from various internal parts of his body, including his stomach and head.
At the time, Ives, 42, was waiting to be released on bail as a result of a domestic dispute with his wife, according to the lawsuit filed in state Superior Court in Newton.
Civil is the administrator of Ives’ estate.
She is suing for compensatory damages, punitive damages, as well as attorney fees and the costs for the lawsuit.
The lawsuit names Dr. Fred Revoredo and the unknown doctors and nurses at Newton Memorial Hospital who were responsible for Ives’ care. Revoredo is an emergency room physician at Newton Memorial Hospital.
He could not be reached for comment.
According to the lawsuit, on or about Sept. 6, 2002, Ives was taken from the jail to Newton Memorial Hospital for stomach pain, ultimately diagnosed as gastroenteritis.
Revoredo prescribed Cipro, an antibiotic drug, for Ives even though he knew that Ives had been prescribed Coumadin, a blood thinner medication, for his heart condition, according to the lawsuit.
Cipro is known to cause uncontrolled bleeding when given in conjunction with Coumadin, said Attorney Herbert M. Korn, of Morristown in the lawsuit.
Korn, who is representing Ives’ estate, could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
The lawsuit states that on Sept. 17, 2002, Ives complained of “ongoing and devastating pain,” while he was in jail.
He bled for more than eight hours before he was transported to Newton Memorial Hospital in the early morning of Sept. 18, 2002, stated the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, the doctors and nurses there “failed to perform adequate testing” and did not recognize that the combination of Coumadin and Cipro caused the uncontrolled bleeding.
Ives was ultimately transferred to Morristown Memorial Hospital, where he died on Sept. 25, 2002, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit states that Revoredo “deviated from the standards of care” in prescribing Cipro because he failed to inform Ives of the potential life-threatening effects of taking both medications.
The lawsuit goes on to name Dr. Richard Vaz, the jail physician, and Charlotte Tyler, the nurse at the jail, because they allegedly allowed Ives to continue taking the contraindicated drugs, failed to monitor him and failed to issue orders regarding the need for immediate hospitalization if he experienced pain.
Beth Malkin, public relations coordinator for Newton Memorial Hospital, could not be reached for comment.