YOUNGSTOWN Suit alleges hospital's neglect

One of the twins died days after a Caesarean-section birth at St. E's.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A New Middletown couple is suing owners of St. Elizabeth Health Center because they say the hospital never gave them the chance to say goodbye to their deceased infant.
Rudolph and Tracey Tatar of Deltona Drive filed the lawsuit this week in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court against Humility of Mary Health Partners of Akron.
They are asking for at least $25,000 in compensatory damages, unspecified punitive damages and reimbursement for their legal expenses.
A St. Elizabeth spokeswoman said she was unaware of the suit, which alleges that the health-care provider intentionally and negligently inflicted emotional distress on the couple in March 1999.
The suit says Mrs. Tatar gave birth to twin daughters by Caesarean section March 11 at St. Elizabeth.
The babies, named Brittany and Courtney, were premature and weighed 2 pounds 8 ounces and 1 pound 5 ounces, respectively, at birth, the suit says.
Brittany survived, but Courtney died in the hospital days later from complications that arose during the pregnancy, the suit says. It does not elaborate.
What's alleged: It says HM employees "disposed, destroyed, or otherwise lost the remains" of Courtney, preventing the family from conducting a proper burial and otherwise coping with the loss of their daughter.
The action "was so extreme and outrageous as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency," the suit says.
The Tatars' attorney, Brian C. Kopp, said the couple doesn't know what happened to the remains of their deceased daughter.
"We want to know why this family wasn't given the opportunity to bury this baby," he said. "It's very bothersome to the mother."