View video here.
Linda Judge | Video Transcript
MALE VOICE: This is the story of Linda Judge, a lifelong resident of Moundsville, who died needlessly on February 19th, 2002, at the age of 59. Linda died because Reynolds Memorial Hospital and its doctors refused to save Linda's life not once but twice on February 15th, 2002, and February 17th, 2002.
MALE VOICE: When Linda Judge saw Dr. John Templeton at Reynolds Hospital that day Dr. Templeton failed to order cardiac enzymes.
MALE VOICE: He failed to place Linda on supplemental oxygen.
MALE VOICE: He failed to order aspirin or nitrate therapy.
MALE VOICE: He failed to initiate additional cardiac monitoring and failed to admit Linda to the hospital.
MALE VOICE: He even failed to obtain a consultation from a cardiologist.
MALE VOICE: Dr. Templeton discharged Linda just after 6:00 p.m. with a diagnosis of costocondritis and told Linda that she should only improve from now on.
Even after having been ignored in the Reynolds Emergency Room once, Linda somehow summoned the courage to return just 37 hours later at 7:04 a.m. on February 17th, 2002. Although Linda did not know it at the time, she would be dead in just over 41 hours. However, the next 27 minutes of Linda Judge's life would be critical.
MALE VOICE: Dr. Fred Robertson saw Linda Judge at 7:23 that morning but did absolutely nothing to save Linda Judge's life.
MALE VOICE: Dr. Robertson failed to order a new EKG.
MALE VOICE: He failed to order cardiac enzymes.
MALE VOICE: He failed to order oxygen, aspirin, or nitrate therapy.
MALE VOICE: He failed to initiate any cardiac monitoring whatsoever.
MALE VOICE: And he failed to admit Linda Judge to the hospital. Just like Dr. Templeton, Dr. Robertson also failed to even obtain a consultation from a qualified cardiologist.
It is absolutely clear that Reynolds' decision to ignore Linda Judge sealed her fate.
FEMALE VOICE: Like I said, she was my mom and dad. And so she always made sure everything was right.
MALE VOICE: Always had somewhere to come back to if things didn't work out. She was always the rock.
FEMALE VOICE: As long as that doctor said - - go back to work.
FEMALE VOICE: And I was - - that she would just been tickled to death, you know, to see him. And she didn't get to see.
FEMALE VOICE: Always made sure everybody was alright. She didn't want to not go to work because she didn't want to let people down. She cared about people.
MALE VOICE: Had Linda Judge been seen by a cardiologist and admitted to the hospital, there are a wide range of treatments that could've helped Linda Judge. These treatments include simple aspirin therapy. Some studies indicate that patients who take aspirin while experiencing a heart attack decrease their risk of death by about 25%. Other studies indicate that patients who receive the IV administration of clot-destroying medicines within 90 minutes after the onset of chest pain increase their chances of survival by seven times.
Additionally, had Linda Judge been admitted to the hospital, she would have had access to aggressive interventional therapy to help her heart pump more efficiently.
MALE VOICE: Consequently, it is not surprising that it is Dr. Zautcke's expert medical opinion to a reasonable degree of medical certainty the Dr. Templeton and Dr. Robertson's combined negligence caused Linda Judge to suffer a cardiac arrest and die.
Linda Judge's treatment is especially troubling considering the fact that her treatment came from her community hospital, Reynolds Memorial Hospital.
