Thread: Lawsuit: Village bias hurt her son

Here we go! And of course they aren't saying is she's illegal but it seems pretty obvious! I have a hard time believing this story working in the industry. And notice she's just bringing up this claim a year later. But the state's been footing the bill; allowing her to move into a larger place? Give me a break

Lawsuit: Village bias hurt her son
Woman says medics denied care to baby
Osbiel Lopez

A family photo shows Osbiel Lopez when he was 4 months old. His mother, Gloria Lopez, filed a $30 million federal lawsuit alleging that anti-immigrant sentiment contributed to paramedics' failure to take him to the hospital, causing permanent brain damage. (Family photo)

By Vanessa Bauza and Ray Quintanilla Tribune staff reporters
September 21, 2007


A former Carpentersville woman filed a $30 million federal lawsuit Thursday, alleging that anti-immigrant sentiment in the village contributed to paramedics' failure to take her son to the hospital, causing him permanent brain damage.

Ted Karavidas, a lawyer for Gloria Lopez, said "virulent anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic rhetoric" in the northwestern suburb led to an atmosphere where paramedics denied care for the boy, violating his civil rights.

"They failed to take the baby [to the hospital] in an environment where there was an effort to limit services to undocumented immigrants of Hispanic descent," he said.


Osbiel Lopez Photo

Immigration has been a hot issue in Carpentersville for more than a year. It has divided the Village Board, with one side pushing for a crackdown on illegal immigrants and the other suggesting that the issue is best handled by the federal government.

Lopez, a Mexican immigrant, said she dropped off her son Osbiel, who was then 4 months old, at the home of a trusted baby-sitter on her way to a factory job on the morning of Sept. 18, 2006.

"From one day to the next his life totally changed," Lopez, 28, said of her son, who was born in the United States. "He was healthy one day, and the next day he was totally different."

Karavidas declined to say whether Lopez was in the U.S. legally.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, states the baby-sitter, Esther Carrera, called 911 at 10:21 a.m. when Osbiel had trouble breathing.

Paramedics Diane Graham and Martin Gruber, village employees, arrived at Carrera's home seven minutes later and saw that Osbiel had vomited and was in distress, according to the suit. Graham and Gruber are named as defendants, as is Carpentersville.

Karavidas said the paramedics told Carrera that the boy was having stomach problems and gave her a form to sign declining care. Carrera, who does not speak English, did not understand what she was signing, he said.

About three hours later, Carrera "checked on the baby ... and found that the baby was blue and called 911 frantically," Karavidas said.

A different set of Fire Department emergency medical technicians responded and took Osbiel to the hospital, where a breathing tube was inserted into his throat and he was diagnosed with an infection, Karavidas said.

Osbiel spent the following four months in hospitals under the supervision of specialists. The 16-month-old boy now requires continuous care and is fed primarily through a tube in his stomach, Lopez said.

Three months ago, she moved to a larger home in Elgin to accommodate the nurses who arrive in shifts to care for Osbiel 18 hours a day. The nurses are paid for through a state program, Lopez said.

"I thought he would be a normal boy, that he would study, grow," Lopez said, her eyes welling with tears at a news conference. "He doesn't do many things he should do. ... My baby can't sit up, he can't hold up his head. He doesn't reach for toys."

Mayor Bill Sarto said he had not seen Thursday's lawsuit, but added, "The financial award they are seeking would bankrupt the village."

Sarto said the incident allegedly occurred around the time trustees began debating what to do with $250,000 in unpaid municipal ambulance bills and whether these calls involved illegal immigrants.

"I remember seeing Hispanic names on that list and Anglo names," Sarto said. "We wrote off the bills."

Carpentersville has 37,000 residents, about 40 percent of them Latino. The community drew national attention in 2006, when two trustees began talking about introducing a measure modeled after a Hazelton, Pa., ordinance that called for suspending the licenses of businesses employing illegal immigrants and cracking down on landlords who rent to them.

In the weeks after the measure was tabled in Carpentersville, a U.S. federal court struck down the Hazelton ordinance as unconstitutional.

"I can't believe our Fire Department would do something like that," said trustee Judy Sigwalt, who favors a crackdown on illegal immigrants. "They give the best of care in response to every call."

Sarto said he will ask the Village Board in the next few days to consider hiring outside legal defense.

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vbauza@tribune.com

rquintanilla@tribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... b01_layout

About three hours later, Carrera "checked on the baby ... and found that the baby was blue and called 911 frantically," Karavidas said.

If the infant was that ill and the babysitter was only checking on him every 3 hours, it would seem that the babysitter is the one who is negligent and should be the object of the lawsuit. Anyone who is doing childcare for hire should be required to be competent and should at least have a basic understanding of English to deal with emergencies.

My first thought was that maybe the baby vomited again and asphyxiated. Hypoxia caused by that could cause brain damage. We see that pretty frequently I'm sorry to say.

Legal or not, the baby deserved care. That being said, I think the original crew honestly believed the baby had the flu. If the care taker did not speak English, she may have been given instructions she did not understand. That is why all care takers must speak English. We can not require our emergency workers to speak every language on this planet. I say it was neglect by the mother for hiring a non-English speaking caretaker. If she had, there could have been no mis-communication that ended in this tragedy. The village has footed the bill for the baby, they have done there part.

This is total bull****. One of the things that will get an EMT's (or any heatlh care provider's) attention the fastest is a report that someone is having trouble breathing. This is why in the ABC's of CPR, A= airway. That is the first thing you check. EMT's deal with all sorts of situations on a daily basis and are typically very good at sorting out what is going on. When they were at the home assessing the child, he probably was not in respiratory distress AT THAT TIME. They also have a portable monitor that can be used to check that the level of oxygen in the blood is sufficient. If the child's condition was stable and the monitor showed good oxygenation, there was no reason to transport him to a hospital. EMT's see enough kids with respiratory problems due to asthma etc. that they are able to quickly determine whether the situation is serious or not. Plus EMT's are in continual contact with supervisors and have access to MDs, it is not like they make a decision whether or not to transport a patient on their own.
I don't know what happened later on with this kid, it sounds like some sort of infection or sepsis from what I can gather.
The mother and her handler's charges that the EMT's deliberately failed to bring the child to the hospital because they were discriminating against hispanics is beyond ridiculous and a terrible insult to every health care provider in this country.

Originally Posted by legal4mykidsfuture

About three hours later, Carrera "checked on the baby ... and found that the baby was blue and called 911 frantically," Karavidas said.

If the infant was that ill and the babysitter was only checking on him every 3 hours, it would seem that the babysitter is the one who is negligent and should be the object of the lawsuit. Anyone who is doing childcare for hire should be required to be competent and should at least have a basic understanding of English to deal with emergencies.

Sure, except the babysitter doesn't have 30 million dollars for the ILLEGAL ALIEN to collect.

Key Words to help recognize illegals:

Lopez, a Mexican immigrant,

Karavidas declined to say whether Lopez was in the U.S. legally.

Baby is a US Citizen.

I hope any sane jury or judge would see this had nothing to do with the first EMT crew. It is obvious to me where the issue started and it was with the mother, and the sitter. Even the most diligent parents, sitters and EMT professionals could not have predicted such and incident and those EMT's would not have left if they felt the child was not doing well.

I have to agree, the baby likely vomited and choked, and issue the sitter apparently did not know how to handle.

I too am a former EMS worker and as mentioned above airway or any type of respitory difficulty is always the highest priority. If the ambulance crew has any doubt they can always contact a ER radio nurse. I simply don't believe any medically trained person would leave a child they thought was in danger. Without knowing all the details I cannot say what happened but would suspect a language barrier problem.
I have been on many calls where only spanish was spoken and I knew enough spanish to explain things, it's very easy to be confused when the RP is unable to give you a back ground as to why you are there but if this child was presenting any life threatening problems they would have scooped him up and taken him to a hospital, these types of calls do not require much of an explaination you simply do what needs to be done.

She didn't come home and check on her sick child either. What did the babysitter do to the baby? What did the mother do to the baby before she let it with the sitter?

Babies throw up all the time and if it's vitals were fine, no need to transport it.

Dixie

Karavidas said the paramedics told Carrera that the boy was having stomach problems and gave her a form to sign declining care. Carrera, who does not speak English, did not understand what she was signing, he said.

Personally, I don't think the lady has a leg to stand on. Bottom line, the sitter declined care. How is that the responsibility of the EMS crew?

An ambulance chasing injury lawyer has obviously seen the potential for mega bucks and netted himself (or herself) a live one.