Patient Dies After Hospital Misidentifies and Asks Wrong Family About Removing Life Support

One man died after he was taken off life support when he was misidentified as his hospital roommate at a Vancouver, Wash., hospital in the summer of 2021, per the Miami Herald and KGW.

David Wells died on Aug. 9, 2021, after his hospital roommate, Michael Beehler’s family, permitted the removal of Beehler from his life support on Aug. 8, 2021, at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver, Wash.

Wells, who was 69, arrived at the Vancouver medical facility via ambulance on Aug. 8, 2021, after he choked on a piece of steak, became unconscious and stopped breathing. Then, Wells was incorrectly identified as Beehler, and the hospital contacted Beehler’s sister, Debbie Danielson, to decide whether the “brain dead” patient would remain on life support, Danielson told KGW.

After she made the difficult decision to end the life of who she thought was her brother, she grieved him, wrote his obituary for the newspaper and arranged his funeral. But then she learned Beehler was alive when he called her.

“I said, ‘You can’t be alive. You’re dead!’ ” Danielson recalled for KGW.

The siblings reported the incident to authorities. Additionally, the Clark County Medical Examiner (CCME) retrieved Wells’ body and used fingerprints to confirm he was not Beehler. Soon, the CCME notified Wells’ son, Shawn Wells.

“They basically told me there was a medical emergency regarding my father. He had been pronounced dead,” Shawn told KGW, alleging he was not informed about the misidentification of his father’s body by the medical examiner, the hospital, or the funeral home.

Shawn did not learn of the misidentification until the 2023 KGW report, according to a previous separate lawsuit. “I’m at a loss for words how badly they handled this,” Shawn said, per KGW. “I’ll never be able to get that decision back.” 

After the 2023 news report, the Washington Department of Health investigated the incident and found multiple violations. The hospital failed to “develop a process to ensure staff were trained to verify patient identification,” “provide supervision of staff tasked with verifying patient identification” and “have a reliable method to identify each patient presenting for care.”

Neither violation garnered citations because the hospital enacted the necessary improvements, per the investigation.

Shawn, Beehler and Danielson are suing the hospital for negligence and causing severe emotional distress, according to the Miami Herald. They are also suing the CCME, American Medical Response Ambulance, and All County Cremation and Burial for negligence in a separate suit.

The hospital issued a statement to McClatchy News: “PeaceHealth has worked diligently to strengthen our patient identification processes, which has included 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,” the statement continued. “Our unwavering commitment of caring for our community remains stronger than ever.” 

Additionally, a company spokeswoman, Debra Carnes, stated that the alleged incident happened during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Representatives for PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, American Medical Response Ambulance Service, Inc., CMEE, All County Cremation and Burial and the plaintiffs’ attorneys did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Tuesday.