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TWO families are demanding answers from a hospital that allowed the wrong family to pull a stranger off of life support in a horrifying mix-up.
Patient David Wells was killed in a medical mistake after a hospital falsely identified him as his roommate.
Wells, 69, was rushed to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver after he choked on a piece of steak at dinner on August 8, 2021.
His roommate, Mike Beehler, called 911 and reported Wells was unconscious and not breathing.
“He fell over a chair,” Beehler told NBC affiliate KGW.
“I thought he was dead then.”
But Wells wasn’t dead. He remained unconscious, and staff mistakenly identified him as Beehler, who had previous medical records on file at the hospital.
The hospital, treating Wells as Beehler, put him on life support.
Staff then called Beehler’s sister to inform him of what appeared to be a tragic turn in her brother’s health.
“They said, ‘He’s basically brain dead,’” Debbie Danielson said.
“’Do you want us to keep him on life support or do you want to pull the plug?’”
A devastated Danielson decided to pull the plug on what she thought was her 60-year-old brother’s life support.
The hospital then sent the body to a funeral home, which asked Danielson about final wishes, cremation, and organ donation.
“That whole week was kind of a blur. Trying to come up with funeral arrangements, letting family members know that he passed away,” Danielson said.
A week later, she was shocked to receive a phone call from none other than her brother.
“I said, ‘You can’t be alive. You’re dead!’” Danielson explained.
We made life-ending decisions for a person we don’t even know.”
Gary Danielson
The horrific realization of the mistake settled.
“He’s dead and I’m supposed to be dead. Who knows what’s going on,” Beehler said.
Danielson’s husband, Gary, said, “We made life-ending decisions for a person we don’t even know.”
After using fingerprints to determine the corpse was Wells instead of Beehler, the medical examiner’s office then notified Wells’ son, Shawn Wells, of his death.
“They basically told me there was a medical emergency regarding my father. He had been pronounced dead,” Shawn said.
However, officials didn’t explain the mix-up to Shawn – and he found out more than two years later when he was contacted by a KGW reporter.
“I’m at a loss for words how badly they handled this,” Shawn said.
“I’ll never be able to get that decision back.”
MISTAKEN IDENTITY
The heartbroken son said Wells had an arm tattoo that could’ve identified him.
Instead, he was taken off life support by strangers.
“It would have been a very easily identifiable mark on his body,” Shawn explained.
“Even if there was any slight confusion about his identity, I think it would have been quickly resolved.”
Shawn said he never got an explanation or apology from the hospital.
PeaceHealth hasn’t returned The U.S. Sun’s request for comment.
FAMILY’S LAWSUIT
The hospital told KGW they’ve worked to “strengthen our patient identification processes, along with our continued collaboration with multiple community agencies involved in healthcare, including EMS.”
“Given that PeaceHealth is involved in litigation, it is unfortunate we are unable to share more facts about this situation,” PeaceHealth spokesperson Debra Carnes told the outlet.
On December 3, Beehler and his family filed a lawsuit against the hospital, claiming they suffered mental and emotional pain due to the mix-up.
Shawn is also a plaintiff in the case.
“It’s disturbing. I don’t know if I’m going to get over it,” Shawn said.
“They dropped the ball so egregiously.”
