The children of a Kane County woman who died as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident are suing the county hospital for allegedly refusing to treat the woman because she was an Indian.
According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court last week, Carol Navajo sustained serious abdominal injuries as a result of a June 25, 1999, two-car collision near Kanab, Kane County.
Navajo was taken by ambulance to the Kane County Hospital, where she was treated for acute abdominal pain, among other problems. A physician determined Navajo had "definite signs of perforation," and Navajo was given pain medication for the "sharp, stabbing pain," the lawsuit states.
The following morning, "contrary to her expressed wishes and in the face of pleadings from her and her family that she was too sick and should not be released," Navajo was discharged from the hospital.
Hospital physicians told Navajo that "she was OK," that "she neither had insurance nor the means to pay for her medical care," and "she should go to the Tuba City Hospital in Arizona where they treat Indians," the lawsuit states.
"That is absolutely false," said hospital attorney Terry Rooney. "The hospital takes care of any and all comers and has for years, and she was never told that type of information. It is my understanding she was evaluated by a physician and was discharged because he believed that she was medically able to be discharged."
Attorney Robert Orton, who is representing Navajo's eight children and her parents in the lawsuit, said Navajo was employed and had insurance.
"They assumed she didn't because she was a Navajo Indian," Orton said. "They said, 'You have no insurance, you're an Indian, go to Tuba City where they treat Indians.' That in the face of signs all over the hospital that say, 'We do not refuse service regardless of race or creed.' "
"I don't believe (the doctor) sent her to another hospital," Rooney said. "That was a decision she made on her own."
That night, Navajo was admitted to the Tuba City hospital, where her condition continued to deteriorate over the following month. She was transferred to a Phoenix, Ariz., hospital in late July and died Aug. 4, 1999.
Orton said Navajo died as a result of a severe abdominal infection coupled with the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome.
"The claim is that the delay in diagnosing the infection and treating it resulted in her death," Orton said. "It's clear as you read the medical records that is what happened."
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages to be proven at trial.
Orton said Navajo was the sole provider for her four minor children, ages 8 to 15. She had been employed with an animal protection agency in Kanab.
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