Touchette Regional sued for woman's post-partum death

Pamela Alls is suing Touchette Regional Hospital in Centreville on behalf of Erica Lewis who died Jan. 16, 2005, after giving birth.

Alls filed suit in St. Clair County Circuit Court July 27 claiming the hospital's staff was negligent for not giving "proper assistance to dedent in the bathroom shower when they knew or should have known she lost blood during childbirth and was anemic," the complaint states.

The two-count suit seeks in excess of $150,00 in damages for survival action and wrongful death. Lewis' obstetrician, Hee Man Song, M.D., was not named in the lawsuit because he was an "independent contractor."

"That at all times herein mentioned plaintiff's decedent and plaintiff acted in reliance upon the conduct of defendant, Touchette Regional Hospital," the complaint states.

Alls is represented by Thomas Q. Keefe of Belleville.