Post by blaze on Jan 29, 2007 18:35:46 GMT -5
www.nypost.com/seven/01292007/news/regionalnews/hosp_starve_death_regionalnews_dan_mangan.htm
January 29, 2007 -- The songwriter of the '50s pop hit "Lollipop" starved to death at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan - where doctors and :s brushed off complaints that he needed his missing dentures to eat, a shocking lawsuit claims.
Julius Dixson Sr. "was wasting away in their hospital, and, essentially, they did nothing to stop that," said Mitchel Ashley, a lawyer representing co-executors of Dixson's estate in their Manhattan Supreme Court suit against St. Luke's and two doctors.
Ashley's bombshell claim is backed by an autopsy that found that Dixson died on Jan. 30, 2004, from "metabolic complications of weight loss and dehydration."
Dixson co-wrote the Chordettes' 1958 hit, "Lollipop."
On Jan. 16, 2004, the Manhattan father of five was taken to St. Luke's after breaking a bone near his hip.
Despite Dixson's age, 90, doctors felt he was healthy enough to undergo surgery the next day to be fit with a prosthetic bone, said his son, Julius Jr. Beforehand, a hospital staffer removed Dixson's dentures, the son said. But after the surgery, the dentures could not be found.
The next 13 days were a nightmare, as the hospital staff gave Dixson "food that you need to . . . to chew," Julius Jr. said.
He said he told staffers that his father was losing weight and that he was dehydrated. But :s and Dixson's surgeon, Dr. O. Alton Barron, downplayed the concerns, Julius Jr. recalled.
Nine days after the surgery, a worried Dixson told him, " 'If I die in here, you go after them,' " Julius Jr. recounted.
On Jan. 29, 2004, a feeding tube was inserted into Dixson's nose, but by that time, Julius Jr. said, his father's failing body could not process the nutrients, and he died the next day.
A spokesman said St. Luke's "extends its deepest condolences to the Dixson family." Barron's lawyer, Jeffrey Cohen, said the doctor's treatment of Dixson "was completely appropriate."
dan.mangan@nypost.com
January 29, 2007 -- The songwriter of the '50s pop hit "Lollipop" starved to death at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan - where doctors and :s brushed off complaints that he needed his missing dentures to eat, a shocking lawsuit claims.
Julius Dixson Sr. "was wasting away in their hospital, and, essentially, they did nothing to stop that," said Mitchel Ashley, a lawyer representing co-executors of Dixson's estate in their Manhattan Supreme Court suit against St. Luke's and two doctors.
Ashley's bombshell claim is backed by an autopsy that found that Dixson died on Jan. 30, 2004, from "metabolic complications of weight loss and dehydration."
Dixson co-wrote the Chordettes' 1958 hit, "Lollipop."
On Jan. 16, 2004, the Manhattan father of five was taken to St. Luke's after breaking a bone near his hip.
Despite Dixson's age, 90, doctors felt he was healthy enough to undergo surgery the next day to be fit with a prosthetic bone, said his son, Julius Jr. Beforehand, a hospital staffer removed Dixson's dentures, the son said. But after the surgery, the dentures could not be found.
The next 13 days were a nightmare, as the hospital staff gave Dixson "food that you need to . . . to chew," Julius Jr. said.
He said he told staffers that his father was losing weight and that he was dehydrated. But :s and Dixson's surgeon, Dr. O. Alton Barron, downplayed the concerns, Julius Jr. recalled.
Nine days after the surgery, a worried Dixson told him, " 'If I die in here, you go after them,' " Julius Jr. recounted.
On Jan. 29, 2004, a feeding tube was inserted into Dixson's nose, but by that time, Julius Jr. said, his father's failing body could not process the nutrients, and he died the next day.
A spokesman said St. Luke's "extends its deepest condolences to the Dixson family." Barron's lawyer, Jeffrey Cohen, said the doctor's treatment of Dixson "was completely appropriate."
dan.mangan@nypost.com
