Suit says St. E’s doctors’ failure to diagnose condition led to death

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — St. Elizabeth Health Center and two of its physicians have been sued by the estate of a woman who, the suit says, died of a pulmonary embolism two days after arriving at the hospital complaining of severe pain in her left leg.

The doctors sent Telina Cleveland home with a diagnosis of leg cramps after she was at the hospital with leg pain last Nov. 13, the suit says.

As a result of the doctors’ negligent failure to diagnose and treat the blood clot in her leg, known as a deep vein thrombosis, Cleveland died of a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in her lung) on Nov. 15, the suit says.

The suit, which seeks more than $25,000 in damages and demands a jury trial, was filed Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Besides the hospital, the suit names Dr. B. David Collier, its radiologist, and Dr. David B. Jackson, its emergency medicine specialist, as defendants. Tina Creighton, a hospital spokeswoman, declined to comment on the lawsuit.