A lawsuit blames “alarm fatigue” for contributing to the death of a woman at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Pocono.
The lawsuit filed May 18 on behalf of the family of Lina Dispensa accuses the hospital of failing to properly treat her pneumonia and accuses nurses of failing to respond to alarms when Dispensa went into cardiac arrest.
Lehigh Valley Health Network spokesman Brian Downs said the network doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit says the Chestnuthill Township, Monroe County, woman was taken to the hospital in East Stroudsburg due to shortness of breath on Nov. 28, 2022.
She received oxygen and inhalation therapy treatments, including one at 7:38 a.m. Nov. 29, the lawsuit says.
The patient was found unresponsive on the floor of the hospital at 8:06 a.m. Nov. 29 after suffering from a cardiac episode, the lawsuit says.
She was revived, but remained in a coma until the family removed her from life support on Dec. 3, the lawsuit says.
The defendants are the hospital, the health network, and a to-be-determined nurse who failed to administer care to Dispensa, according to the lawsuit.
The National Library of Medicine says alarm fatigue occurs “when clinicians experience high exposure to medical device alarms, causing alarm desensitization and leading to missed alarms or delayed response.”
The seven-count suit was filed by Bethlehem Township attorneys Christopher Reid and Isaac Hof in Northampton County Court. It seeks damages on behalf of Dispensa’s widower, John Dispensa.
Lina Dispensa was 71 when she died, according to her obituary. She was born in Italy and leaves behind three children and five grandchildren, the obituary says.
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Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com.