Paramedics’ alleged mistakes in girl’s death likely to cost taxpayers

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Arielle Starks, 13.

Updated: March 15, 2012 8:12AM

Chicago taxpayers will likely spend $1.75 million to compensate the family of a 13-year-old girl who died of bronchial asthma in 2002 after a string of alleged mistakes made by Chicago Fire Department paramedics.

Arielle Starks died at Advocate Trinity Hospital after an ambulance carrying her to the hospital collided with a car at 87th and Langley. Another ambulance picked up Arielle and took her to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.

At the time, the Chicago Fire Department insisted that Starks was “close to death” when paramedics arrived on the scene, that her medical treatment was never interrupted and that she was getting oxygen, but still “not breathing.”

Now, the attorney representing the Starks family is telling a dramatically different story that set the stage for the $1.75 million settlement expected to be approved by the City Council’s Finance Committee on Tuesday.

If not for a series of “mistakes” made by the four paramedics who treated Starks on that fateful day, attorney Brian Murphy argued that the girl would be alive today.

The first mistake was that the child was “intubated through the esophagus that leads to the stomach, instead of through the trachea that leads to her lungs,” Murphy said.

The second mistake involved ignoring a “standing medical order” issued by the Fire Department. According to Murphy, it states that, if a patient’s condition worsens, paramedics are to look into the patient’s mouth to “visually observe where the breathing tube was placed.”

If the paramedics had done that, Murphy said, “They would have seen the tube was in the esophagus and not in her trachea and they would have removed it and properly placed it.”

The third mistake involved the “fender-bender” that delayed Starks’ transport to the hospital.

Instead of proceeding to Trinity Hospital after determining that the driver of the other vehicle was not injured, the paramedics chose to follow, what Murphy called a “ridiculous general order” that states that, if you’re in an accident involving property damage, you remain on the scene.

As a result, Starks arrived at the hospital where she was pronounced dead 19 minutes after the accident, 25 minutes after being improperly intubated and roughly 40 minutes after the initial call was placed to 911.

“In the United States, children do not die from asthma. It’s just that simple. I would categorically say there is no reason why this girl’s asthma should have killed her. She should have been back at school and back playing with her friends the next day,” Murphy said.

“If she had been properly intubated, they could have stayed on the scene of that accident all day. If they had just gone on to the hospital, her chances would have been tough, but we had testimony from experts that she would likely have survived. But, because they incorrectly intubated her, failed to follow a standing medical order that would have discovered that and stayed at the scene when they didn’t need to be there — because of all that, this girl died, and she did not need to die.”

Law Department spokesman Roderick Drew refused to comment on the settlement before the Finance Committee signs off on it. The family initially demanded $6 million. The settlement avoided a trial.

Murphy noted that the tort immunity statute requires plaintiffs to prove “willful and wanton” misconduct.

“If the city of Chicago, knowing they have the benefit of the tort immunity act, is paying $1.75 million to settle a medical malpractice case stemming from the death of a 13-year-old child, that speaks to what the city thought the conduct was,” he said.

The accident near 87th Street and Langley Avenue that delayed Starks’ arrival at the hospital was the second in two days involving an ambulance and a motorist. Earlier that same week, a 36-year-old mother of five was killed when a car hit by an ambulance pinned her against a light pole.

After a Dec. 23, 2000, collision that killed Fire Lt. Scott Gillen, 37, the Illinois General Assembly passed a new law increasing the penalty for failing to yield to emergency vehicles at an accident scene to license suspension or fines of up to $10,000.