MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Tipton County woman says her husband would still be alive if doctors hadn't made a medical mistake when he contracted COVID-19.
Instead of giving him medicines to help combat the virus, he was given a muscle relaxer, according to a new $5 million lawsuit.
According to a lawsuit filed this week in Shelby County, the doctors who treated Peter Dimoh should have done more when they confirmed the 66-year-old had COVID.
"He was everything to me, ya know. It just don't seem like he's gone, but I know he's gone 'cause he's not there," said Shirley Dimoh.
Shirley Dimoh said she misses her husband of more than 20 years, and blames the St. Francis Medical Partners-May Medical Group in Munford for his death.
"Seemed like they should have done more but they didn't," said Dimoh.
According to this lawsuit, Peter Dimoh died last December after he developed pneumonia and sepsis from the SARS virus. A month before, his wife Shirley went to the St. Francis Medical Partners-May Medical Group in Munford. When Shirley Dimoh tested positive, according to the lawsuit, doctors prescribed her a long list of drugs - including antibiotics and steroids.
Just over a week later when her husband was feeling ill, he went to the same clinic and saw the same physician's assistant, but when his COVID-19 test came back positive, Dimoh said only a prescription for a muscle relaxer was called into the pharmacy.
"I feel like he would have been alive if they would have took care of him like they took care of me. But they didn't treat him like they treated me," said Dimoh.
"We believe Mr. Dimoh would have been alive today if these doctors had met the standard of practice," said attorney Duncan Ragsdale.
Ragsdale filed the lawsuit on Shirley Dimoh's behalf.
Ragsdale said he doesn't understand why only a muscle relaxer was called into the pharmacy, and not something else.
"There is 16 drugs to give as medications to give for the SARS virus, and none of them were given. We don't understand," said Ragsdale."
Ragsdale said Peter Dimoh was considered high risk because he had several medical conditions.
SARS stands for Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which appeared in 2002. The current COVID is just the latest form of the virus, said Ragsdale, which is why the Munford doctors should have either known how to treat Peter Dimoh or they should have known his medical condition required more than they could provide.
"They were not qualified to treat this condition and they should have sent Mr. Dimoh to an infectious disease physician or an emergency room where he would get that type of treatment They didn't do that - that's negligence," said Ragsdale.
So far no comment from the physicians group. We were told the administrator would get back to us, but that has yet to happen.