A mother struggling with alcoholism died in the 107-degree heat of Las Vegas after being released from a treatment facility, according to her family.
Melissa Gallia, 50, died from environmental heat stress in July of last year, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed in Clark County District Court on Tuesday.
The mother of two sought treatment for alcoholism at Desert Hope Treatment Center, but was transferred to nearby Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center after experiencing hallucinations.
However, doctors at the hospital claimed she was engaging in ‘drug-seeking behavior’ and discharged her to her home, according to a complaint obtained by Daily Mail.
Gallia was discovered dead in a parking lot near Sunrise Hospital just hours after being released, with her husband Bart claiming he was not informed of the emergency room visit until after she died.
Gallia’s family claims she ‘died alone’ in the parking lot as a result of ‘outrageous, willful, wanton, reckless, and malicious’ actions by staff at both facilities.
In a statement to the Daily Mail, the family’s attorney claimed, ‘Melissa would not have died in the heat of Las Vegas’ had it not been for the alleged ‘failure of medical professionals’ and ‘administrative failures’ by both Desert Hope and Sunrise Hospital.
Sunrise Hospital, which declined to comment on the case citing ‘pending litigation’, told Daily Mail that it is ‘always sensitive to situations involving patients and remain sympathetic to the details that have been made public’.
Gallia developed an alcohol problem following her mother’s death and sought help at Dessert Hope shortly before 10 p.m. on June 29, according to the complaint.
The facility took her personal belongings, including her ID, and she allegedly signed paperwork giving the facility permission to discuss her medical information with her husband, father, and Sunrise Hospital.
She was given several medications shortly after being admitted and again the next morning, with her case manager contacting Bart just after 8 a.m. to provide an update on her condition, according to the lawsuit.
But her symptoms appeared to worsen, and staff continued to administer more drugs throughout the day, according to the complaint.
By 11 p.m. on June 30, Gallia reported that she was’seeing things moving’ and her doctor ordered another dose of medication.
Gallia’s condition did not improve, with her reporting high levels of anxiety around 3 a.m., followed by ‘worsening visual hallucinations’ and feeling’restless’ about two hours later.
Gallia was transported to the emergency room after the staff called 911. According to the complaint, she arrived at Sunrise Hospital on July 1 at 5:54 a.m. but was not admitted until 11:06 a.m.
She was discharged less than 30 minutes after being seen by the attending physician, who noted that’she has urinary infection’ and that she was seen at a ‘outside facility but not prescribed antibiotics’.
According to the complaint, the notes also stated that she engaged in ‘drug seeking behavior’ and was ‘discharged to home’.
Around 2:21pm, a nearby business’s surveillance cameras captured Gallia ‘alone’ and’stumbling’ through a parking lot.
She sat in a landscaped area before being discovered lying in a parking spot shortly before 3 p.m., according to the complaint.
An employee discovered her ‘lying on the ground’ and ‘unresponsive’ about an hour later and contacted emergency services. She was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m.
The Clark County Coroner performed an autopsy and determined that Gallia died from environmental heat stress.
According to the lawsuit, Bart was unaware that his wife had been transferred to the hospital or discharged until he received a call from a Desert Hope nurse on July 2 at 3:28 a.m. asking where Gallia was.
According to the filing, he rushed to Sunrise Hospital for information but received “conflicting answers from staff.”
Bart claims he only learned of his wife’s whereabouts later that day, when he received a call from an investigator at the coroner’s office who informed him that she had died.
The lawsuit also included sworn expert testimony from two medical professionals who identified multiple ‘breaches in the standard of care’, which they claim’represented an utter disregard for Melissa’s life and safety’.
The experts accused the facilities of ‘neglect’, citing failures in properly documenting Gallia’s case and failing to notify her family of changes in her care, with one saying: ‘In all my years of practice, I have never seen so many missed opportunities to provide proper care.’
The wrongful death suit seeks unspecified damages.
Gallia’s family attorney, Robert Murdock, told the Daily Mail in a statement: “The matter involves the failure of medical professionals as well as administrative failures by the entities involved, which we believe allowed and caused Melissa’s death.”
“At the end of the day, if Desert Hope had simply picked up the phone and called Melissa’s husband Bart, or Sunrise Hospital had simply picked up the phone and called Melissa’s husband Bart, Melissa would not have died in the heat of Las Vegas.”
The Daily Mail contacted Desert Hope Treatment Center for comment but did not receive a response.
