HENDERSON, Ky (WEHT) – An Evansville family has filed a lawsuit against St. Vincent claiming the hospital failed to give adequate care to their 8-year-old son, resulting in his death.

According to the lawsuit, the parents of Marco Gabriel La Torre Riquero took him to St. Vincent urgent care on September 18, 2022 because he was suffering from headaches, abdominal pain and vomiting for four days. The lawsuit also said Marco’s mother reported that it hurt the boy to stand. The family was advised to take the boy to the emergency room for further evaluation, but the lawsuit claims the boy was never given an appropriate medical screening at the emergency room and the parents were instead advised to give him fever medication and see a pediatrician.

The lawsuit says an interpreter was not provided by St. Vincent for Macro’s parents, who primarily speak Spanish. The lawsuit also claims that medical records indicate that Marco was uninsured and was “Self Pay” which was not the case.

The lawsuit says after the boy’s condition grew worse over the subsequent days, he was returned to the emergency room on September 20, and an examination revealed signs of encephalitis, which has a 97% survival rate when caught early. St. Vincent transported Marco to Norton Children’s Hospital in Louisville, where he was pronounced dead on September 22.

The lawsuit claims Norton Children’s Hospital was the first to administer steroid treatments to treat encephalitis, but the treatments came too late to save Marco’s life. We’ve reached out to Ascension St. Vincent and have received the following response:

Ascension St. Vincent cannot comment on pending litigation.

You can read the lawsuit filed against St. Vincent in the window below:

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