Mother’s bikini wax turns deadly because of South MS hospital’s negligence, lawsuit says
An infection from a bikini wax killed a Gautier woman who failed to receive the treatment she needed at Singing River Health System’s Ocean Springs Hospital, a lawsuit filed in Jackson County Circuit Court says.
Christopher Dawson, the brother of Zhondrese Dawson, filed the lawsuit as guardian of her two surviving sons. The lawsuit says their mother went to the emergency room at Ocean Springs Hospital two years ago complaining of a skin infection after the bikini wax.
Dawson was given oral antibiotics and discharged hours later, the lawsuit says. No bacteria culture was taken and no glucose test was performed, although Dawson was diabetic and the test “likely would have shown signs of a more serious infection,” the lawsuit says.
The 37-year-old mother of two would visit the emergency room a total of three times before her death in the hospital, the lawsuit says.
In its response, Singing River has denied any wrongdoing.
The lawsuit “may correctly reflect some information included in the relevant medical records, but the allegations omit pertinent facts and the chronology of events as set forth in said records,” the health system’s response says. The health systems adds that it denies “all facts alleged which are inconsistent with the medical records, which are absent from the medical records, which reflect an incomplete representation of relevant events, and/or which call for a medical or legal opinion.”
Lawsuit: Flesh-eating bacteria diagnosed
After her initial visit to the hospital emergency room, Dawson returned several days later because the infection was getting worse, her brother’s lawsuit says. The health system breached the standard of care on the second visit, the lawsuit says, by failing to take cultures to rule out infection or perform other needed tests, including a glucose test.
Instead, the lawsuit says, a doctor advised Dawson that she had contact dermatitis and should continue taking her oral antibiotics, “which clearly were not helping her condition,” the lawsuit says.
Dawson was back the next day. This time, she arrived in an ambulance, the lawsuit says. She was immediately admitted and treated with skin debridements, which generally involve thoroughly cleaning a wound and removing any extraneous material, including dead tissue.
The lawsuit says that Dawson was diagnosed with flesh-eating bacteria. She became septic and was placed on mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit, the lawsuit says. Dawson went into cardiac arrest and died — eight days after her initial emergency room visit — of sepsis, septic shock and necrotizing fasciitis of the thigh and pelvic area.
The lawsuit accuses the health system of wrongful death, medical negligence and breach of warranty to provide “adequate, safe and proper care.” It also accuses the hospital and unnamed defendants of gross negligence — which would open the door to punitive damages if proven — for failing to perform needed medical procedures on Dawson.
Her brother is seeking for her sons, who are her beneficiaries, an unspecified amount in damages to cover medical expenses, pain and suffering, funeral expenses, lost wages and other damages.
This story was originally published October 17, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
