Inset: Phyllis Burrell (Facebook/Deborah Hunter). Background: The New Jersey hospital where Phyllis Burrell allegedly died after a routine liver biopsy (Google Maps).
A New Jersey woman died hours after getting a diagnostic procedure and biopsy done on her liver, with doctors causing her to bleed to death internally after claiming she had lesions that did not exist and giving her a "significant laceration," a lawsuit says.
"A subsequent private forensic autopsy … and accompanying photographic evidence confirmed the total absence of any lesions on the decedent's liver," a legal complaint filed by Phyllis Burrell's family and obtained by Law&Crime states.
"The autopsy also revealed that the decedent had sustained a significant laceration to her liver," the document alleges. "The autopsy also noted that the decedent suffered a massive and fatal internal hemorrhage."
Burrell, 64, was an East Orange municipal worker who went to Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair for an "acute medical condition," per the complaint. "After several days of treatment, she was discharged with a prescription for medication," the document says, noting how Burrell went into the hospital in "late March" 2024.
After she was discharged, Burrell's condition "deteriorated significantly" at home and she returned to the hospital on April 8, 2024, with complaints of generalized weakness and other "serious" symptoms, the complaint states.
"Upon admission, laboratory studies revealed that the decedent was suffering from severe and acute multi-organ injury," the document explains. "Her condition was significantly worse than during her prior admission just days earlier."
Burrell suffered from "sudden and severe organ failure" that was consistent with a known, though rare, adverse reaction to the medication she had been prescribed by doctors at Mountainside Medical, which is owned and operated by Hackensack Meridian Health.
"Despite the clear temporal relationship between the administration of the new medication and her rapid clinical decline, defendants failed to recognize, evaluate, or treat her condition as a probable adverse drug reaction," the complaint explains. "Instead, on information and belief, they pursued other diagnostic theories."
Over the next several days, Burrell's condition continued to worsen and doctors "recommended and planned" to perform a liver biopsy "when less risky procedures were available," according to Burrell's family, unbeknownst to them.
"Following the procedure, the decedent was transferred to a recovery area," the complaint says, alleging that Burrell was not connected to any cardiac monitors or blood pressure monitors, along with not receiving an "intravenous line immediately after the procedure or other standard monitoring devices during this critical recovery period."
Burrell's family arrived at the hospital and observed that she was feeling "groggy and unwell," per the complaint. After about an hour and a half, the family noticed that Burrell was "cold" to the touch and they alerted the nursing staff. Burrell became unconscious and was unable to be revived, her family says.
"A 'Code Blue' was called, and resuscitation efforts were initiated," according to the complaint. "The decedent was pronounced dead less than three hours after the procedure concluded."
According to Burrell's family, doctors at Mountainside "explicitly represented that the liver biopsy was a medical necessity because, based on a CT scan, 'lesions' had been observed" on her liver prior to the procedure. However, a subsequent "private forensic autopsy" performed on or about April 17, 2024, and the accompanying photographic evidence allegedly confirmed the absence of lesions.
"Upon information and belief, the decedent bled to death internally as a direct and proximate result of the injury sustained during the procedure," the complaint states, citing the laceration that was found.
The family says Burrell's doctors falsely claimed that she died of natural causes, citing "cardiogenic shock," "high output acute cardiac failure," "metastatic disease unknown" and "possible lymphoma" as causes while allegedly omitting any reference to the liver laceration, "intra-abdominal hemorrhage," the recent liver biopsy, or "failures of monitoring and rescue alleged herein, thereby materially misrepresenting and concealing the iatrogenic and wrongful-death aspects of the decedent's demise," according to the complaint.
"By certifying Phyllis' death as 'natural causes,' and concealing that she had a liver biopsy two hours before she died, this hospital intentionally and successfully avoided a state-mandated investigation," the family's attorney, James H. Davis III, told Law&Crime in a statement. "They chose to bypass the law so they could bury the truth along with Phyllis Burrell."
The complaint claims that this "fatal outcome was the result of defendants' failure to properly diagnose and treat the Decedent's deteriorating condition; their reckless decision to subject an acutely ill and high-risk patient to an invasive procedure; and a complete failure of post-procedure monitoring that allowed her to suffer a fatal, untreated complication."
Speaking to NJ.com about the $40 million lawsuit and Burrell's death, her nephew Melvin Jones Jr. said, "It's just mind boggling," in reference to the biopsy and alleged refusal to hook Burrell up to monitoring machines. "When we showed up, we were dumbfounded."
Law&Crime could not reach Mountainside for comment Sunday. A spokesperson for the hospital and another rep for Hackensack Meridian Health told NJ.com and the local news outlet Montclair Local they were unable to comment on pending legal matters.
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