CHARLESTON – A Cabell County woman blames Charleston Area Medical Center for failing to promptly recognize and treat a spinal cord emergency that left her an incomplete quadriplegic after an emergency room visit last summer.
Tamara Lynn Hall and husband Earl R. Hall Jr. filed their complaint June 10 in Kanawha Circuit Court against CAMC alleging professional negligence and vicarious liability tied to care she received at CAMC General Hospital on July 21, 2024.
According to the filing, Hall had undergone cervical spine surgery at CAMC on July 8, 2024, for C5-6 and C6-7 cervical spondylosis with radiculopathy, a procedure described in the complaint as “successful and uneventful.” Thirteen days later, emergency medical services were dispatched to her home after she reportedly lost feeling and movement in her lower extremities.
Paramedics found Hall lying on the floor beside her bed, alert and oriented, but with no sensation, movement or detectable pulse in her legs and with markedly delayed capillary refill, suggesting possible spinal injury, the complaint states.
EMS immobilized her on a backboard and transported her by ambulance to CAMC General, arriving at 1:12 a.m. on July 21 and transferring care to hospital staff at 1:35 a.m., according to the suit.
The lawsuit says emergency physician Dr. Leon Shiu‑Lung Kwei evaluated Hall on arrival, but neither he nor triage nurses activated a Level 1 trauma response despite her presentation being “suggestive of a spinal cord injury.” The complaint says there is no indication in the records Hall was immediately seen by a surgeon or that a neurosurgeon was promptly consulted.
Kwei ordered emergent non‑contrast CT scans of Hall’s brain and cervical, lumbar and thoracic spine, but those studies were not completed and read until between 3:26 a.m. and 3:43 a.m., roughly two hours after her arrival, according to the complaint. Kwei also ordered emergent non‑contrast MRIs of her cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine, which were not completed and interpreted until between 4:56 a.m. and 4:57 a.m., the filing says.
The MRI of Hall’s cervical spine showed “severe central canal stenosis at C5‑C6 and moderate severe if not severe canal stenosis at C6‑C7 and cord compression at C5‑C6,” according to the complaint.
A neurosurgeon, Dr. James Stephen Harman, did not examine Hall until 7:56 a.m., at which time he documented that she could raise her arms but had significant weakness in her upper extremities and no motor function in her lower extremities, the suit states.
Harman performed cervical decompression and fusion surgery at 1 p.m. that day, the complaint says. After surgery, Hall was transferred to CAMC’s medical rehabilitation unit from July 30 through Sept. 6, 2024, and ultimately was discharged with a diagnosis of incomplete quadriplegia due to cervical spinal cord compression, along with neurogenic bowel and bladder, according to the filing.
The Halls claim CAMC itself was professionally negligent for failing to have appropriate policies in place to ensure a Level 1 trauma activation for patients presenting such as Hall and for failing to adequately train staff on such protocols. They say these alleged deviations from accepted standards of care were a proximate cause of her permanent incomplete quadriplegia.
They also allege professional negligence under a vicarious liability theory, claiming CAMC is responsible for the acts and omissions of its employees and agents, including Kwei, triage nurses and other emergency department providers who treated Hall. The suit says those providers failed to activate a Level 1 trauma, failed to ensure she was immediately seen by a surgeon and neurosurgeon and failed to secure immediate CT and MRI imaging or transfer her to a facility that could do so. It says these alleged failures contributed to her injuries.
The complaint lists a range of damages for Tamara Hall, including past and future medical expenses, lost earnings, physical pain and suffering, emotional harm and loss of enjoyment of life. It also raises a constitutional challenge to any statutory caps on damages, arguing such limits would violate her rights to due process and equal protection under the West Virginia Constitution.
Her husband seeks damages for loss of spousal consortium, alleging CAMC’s conduct has deprived him of his wife’s affection, companionship and services and forced him to provide nursing and personal care for her. The couple also seeks general damages, special damages, punitive damages, attorney fees, court costs and pre‑ and post‑judgment interest.
The couple is being represented by David H. Carriger and L. Dante diTrapano of Calwell Luce diTrapano in Charleston and by Dr. Richard D. Linsday of Tabor Lindsay & Associates in Charleston.
Kanwaha Circuit Court case number 26‑C‑631
