Traumatic Brain Injury Caused by Unnecessary and Improper Intubation by Paramedics

Kelly Wolfe was 56 years old when he was involved in a motorcycle crash. Paramedics from the city of Grand Prairie arrived at the crash location where they found him alert and breathing regularly. The paramedics attempted unsuccessfully to intubate Wolfe. The paramedics undertook the intubation even though Wolfe told the paramedics that he wanted to go home.

A helicopter service operated by PHI Air Medical Inc. came to the scene to transport Wolfe to a nearby hospital. Before the helicopter transport, the paramedics provided the PHI Air personnel with a paralyzing agent to facilitate Wolfe’s intubation.For some reason, the paramedics were determined that intubation was the thing to do.

Twenty minutes later, when Wolfe arrived at the hospital, he was deemed brain dead due to prolonged oxygen deprivation. Wolfe subsequently died. He had been working as a paramedic instructor, earning about $50,000 per year. He is survived by his three children, one of whom was a minor.

The Wolfe family sued the city of Grand Prairie and PHI Air claiming that the city’s paramedics attempted the totally unnecessary intubation and that PHI Air had intubated Wolfe improperly by misplacing the tube into his stomach. Even still, the defendants denied liability. Before trial, the parties settled for a confidential amount for the death of Wolfe.

The attorney representing the Wolfe family was Andrew B. Sommerman.

Colville v. City of Grand Prairie, No. DC-14-13902.

Kreisman Law Offices has been successfully handling medical malpractice cases, nursing home abuse cases, wrongful death cases and traumatic brain injury matters for individuals and families who have been injured or killed by the negligence of a medical provider for more than 40 years, in and around Chicago, Cook County and its surrounding areas, including River Forest, Lake Forest, Park Forest, Forest Park, Crestwood, Calumet City, South Holland, Barrington, Inverness, Naperville, Elgin, Joliet, Hickory Hills, Summit, Chicago (Rogers Park, Irving Park, Jefferson Park, Andersonville, Albany Park, South Shore, East Side), Schaumburg, Schiller Park, Sauk Village, Countryside and Libertyville, Ill.