Jersey Community Hospital and doctor named in med mal complaint

A man claims he lost his right eye after a doctor at Jersey Community Hospital failed to adequately treat it for injuries he sustained.

David Nord and his wife, Patti Nord, filed a lawsuit June 17 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Jersey Community Hospital and Dr. Donna Boone.

In his complaint, David Nord claims he arrived at Jersey Community Hospital on June 22 with an injury to his right eye. After seeing Boone, who examined him and prescribed him medication, David Nord was discharged from the hospital with orders to follow up with a primary care physician in five days, according to the complaint.

On June 24, David Nord's optometrist sent him to Barnes-Jewish Hospital. There, doctors diagnosed David Nord with a full thickness corneal laceration, a ruptured globe, endophthalmmitis and intraocular foreign body, the suit states. Basically, David Nord received a cut to his eye, which later became infected. The ruptured globe likely caused David Nord severe eye pain and was probably caused by a blunt or penetrating trauma, which struck the outer membranes of David Nord's eye, the suit claims.

At Barnes-Jewish Hospital, David Nord underwent multiple surgeries on his right eye, but was eventually diagnosed with a blind right eye, which doctors removed on July 8, 2010, the complaint says.

Because of the ordeal, David Nord claims he had to go through multiple unnecessary surgical procedures, incurred medical costs, lost wages, experienced extreme pain and suffering and lost his ability to enjoy life. In addition, Patti Nord claims she lost her husband's care, comfort, society and consortium.

David Nord and his wife blame Jersey Community Hospital and Boone for causing his eventual partial blindness, saying they negligently failed to timely diagnose his condition. In addition, they failed to properly treat David Nord's condition, failed to transfer David Nord to a center that could provide an accurate diagnosis and failed to obtain consultation from an ophthalmologist, according to the complaint.

In their three-count complaint, the Nords seek a judgment within the jurisdictional limits of St. Clair County Circuit Court, plus costs.

Thomas G. Kemper of Butler and Kemper in St. Louis will be representing them.

St. Clair County Circuit Court case number: 11-L-289.