A Presque Isle man died because staff at Northern Light A.R. Gould Hospital delayed in diagnosing and treating his gastrointestinal bleed, a lawsuit filed by his widow alleges.
Jeffrey Lausier died on May 7, 2022, following a surgery performed two days after he first visited the emergency room, according to the claim, which was filed Jan. 29 in Aroostook County Superior Court in Caribou.
Lausier’s widow, Janis Lausier, said in the complaint that her husband visited the hospital on three consecutive days beginning on May 5.
She alleges a doctor failed to evaluate Jeffrey Lausier in person when he came to the emergency department after vomiting dark red blood. She further claims the hospital failed to schedule a timely endoscopy the following day after he passed out on a bathroom floor and was taken back to the hospital by ambulance.
“Jeff did the right thing by seeking medical help on consecutive days, yet medical providers failed to take urgent action. We believe those failures cost Jeff his life,” Portland attorney Travis Brennan, who is representing Janis Lausier, said Tuesday.
“This is a case where we allege doctors ignored obvious warning signs of a treatable condition and as a result, a preventable death occurred,” Brennan said. “Janis wants to ensure that no family experiences the nightmare that she’s been through.”
Brennan — a prominent wrongful death attorney — is among the group of lawyers representing the victims and survivors of the 2023 mass shooting in Lewiston in a lawsuit against the U.S. Army.
Lausier’s lawsuit seeks damages pertaining to medical expenses, lost earnings, funeral expenses, emotional distress and the loss of companionship of a loved one, among other factors. It does not list a specific monetary amount.
The Bangor Daily news reached out to A.R. Gould, and the hospital issued a statement saying Suzanne Spruce, Northern Light Health senior vice president of marketing and communications, declined to comment because of the pending litigation.
According to the lawsuit, a doctor recognized that Jeffrey Lausier may have needed an endoscopy on May 5 after he was first admitted to the hospital. That doctor consulted with the on-call surgeon, Enrique Bujanda-Morun.
The suit alleges that Bujanda-Morun did not come to the hospital to evaluate Lausier, did not recommend admission for monitoring, prescribe medication or recommend an urgent procedure to examine the upper digestive tract.
Bujanda-Morun, who left Northern Light Health in 2023, according to his LinkedIn profile, instead recommended Lausier follow up with general surgery as an outpatient, and Lausier was discharged.
Early the next morning, first responders reported finding Lausier on a bathroom floor after he passed out while having a bloody bowel movement, according to the complaint. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance and admitted with weakness, hypotension and continued bleeding.
Lab tests recorded low oxygen in his blood for the second straight day, the lawsuit said. Lausier received a blood transfusion 10 minutes after arriving at the hospital, and a second later that morning.
That afternoon, he was evaluated by Roger Casady, M.D., the on-call surgeon. Casady “knew that there was strong concern that Jeffrey had a gastrointestinal bleed,” according to the suit.
Casady did not perform an urgent upper endoscopy but scheduled the surgery for the following morning, the document states. The next morning, May 7, Casady began the procedure. Lausier experienced uncontrollable bleeding and died six hours later after suffering hemorrhagic shock and two cardiac arrests.
The suit alleges that Northern Light and its employees, including Casady and Morun, violated the medical standard of care and caused Lausier’s death as a result of negligence.
If the gastrointestinal bleed had been treated properly, Lausier could have gone on “to lead a normal life,” the document states.
Northern Light A.R. Gould had not filed an answer to the complaint or motion to dismiss the case by Tuesday afternoon.
