WASHINGTON
The family of comatose student Shahzaib Bajwa sued Cloquet Community Memorial Hospital and the doctor who treated him in the emergency room, The Washington Times reported.
A lawsuit, on behalf of Bajwa, filed on Friday sought damages in excess of $75,000. The lawsuit claims a doctor at the hospital did not quickly ensure that Bajwa’s airway was unobstructed. As a result, the lawsuit said, Bajwa suffered permanent brain injury and brain damage.
The lawsuit names the hospital and Dr Peter T Olsen as defendants. It alleged Bajwa was permanently injured and disabled as a direct and proximate result of Olsen’s negligence.
“Dr Olsen’s failure to timely establish and ensure an adequate airway was a direct contributing cause of permanent anoxic brain injury and damage,” the lawsuit read.
It also read Bajwa had endured pain, disability and emotional distress, as well as lost wages and a reduced earning capacity in the future.
The suit claimed that he suffered permanent brain damage and brain injury as a direct and proximate result of Dr Olsen’s negligence.
The hospital administration refused to comment on the request Bajwa, 20, has been in a coma since November when a deer struck a car carrying him and friends from the city of Minneapolis back to the University of Wisconsin-Superior where he was spending a semester abroad.
The deer’s antlers pierced his face and broke his nose, although he was still able to speak. But once at the hospital, he choked on his own blood and suffered a heart attack.
What was meant to be an academic semester abroad through a State Department-backed exchange programme has turned into a complex journey through US insurance, medical and visa regulations for the family from Faisalabad.