Barbara Washington collapsed at her Charlotte-area home on May 22, 2024, and was rushed by EMS crews who managed to revive her before taking her to Novant Health Matthews Medical Center. Less than a day after she was later transferred to Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center, the 82-year-old was dead. Now her family is suing, alleging that doctors denied her life-saving heart surgery.
Lawsuit Alleges Discrimination Based on Mobility Device
Washington's daughters filed their complaint in Mecklenburg County in May 2024, according to WCNC, accusing Novant Health, its hospitals and its doctors of denying their mother life-saving surgical treatment and subjecting her to prolonged conscious suffering. The daughters allege that the denial of surgery led directly to their mother's death, per the lawsuit as reported by the station. Washington used a walker and cane for balance, the family says, but could walk and stand without them.
Medical records cited in the lawsuit state that doctors at Presbyterian Medical Center concluded Washington was not a candidate for open-heart surgery, citing her walker use, her advanced age and a neurological condition, according to the station's report. A doctor at Presbyterian reportedly assessed her with a life-threatening proximal aortic dissection carrying extremely high mortality, and said medical therapy was typically inadequate for her condition, per those same medical records. Hospital records also indicated Washington would not be a good surgical candidate even if she regained neurological function, the outlet reports.
A Narrow Window Before Her Condition Worsened
After Washington arrived at Presbyterian with a serious heart issue, a doctor there reportedly told her daughters that she needed immediate surgery to live — a decision doctors would consider if she regained consciousness, per the same account. She did regain consciousness, her daughters say, but a pulmonologist and critical-care physician, and later a thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon, each opposed moving forward with surgery. A Novant Health surgeon said Washington's frailty and advanced age were poor prognostic factors that made her inoperable, and that salvage surgery would not lead to a meaningful outcome, according to medical records described in the lawsuit.
Daughter Yvette Springs told the station that Novant Health did not provide her mother the medical care she needed or give her a chance.
Allegations About Final Hours and Resuscitation
The lawsuit also accuses Novant of subjecting Washington to prolonged conscious suffering, as well as denying her life-saving treatment.
Bioethics Background
Dr. Ryan Pferdehirt is with the Center for Practical Bioethics.
Federal Disability Protections and Unresolved Questions
The case surfaces a broader legal backdrop. Under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says it is committed to protecting the civil rights of people with disabilities in programs receiving federal funding, according to a notice published in the Federal Register. Those federal materials describe general nondiscrimination standards; they do not establish whether such rules apply to or were violated in Washington's specific case.
Research on aortic dissection surgery outcomes, meanwhile, shows mixed results tied to age. A 2022 systematic review and meta-analysis in the Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery examining 16 retrospective studies and more than 16,000 patients found octogenarians faced significantly higher odds of short-term mortality after surgery than younger patients, with five-year survival of 54 percent for octogenarians compared with 76 percent for non-octogenarians. That same review describes urgent cardiothoracic intervention as the mainstay of treatment for acute type A aortic dissection, noting that non-operative management carries high short-term mortality and is usually reserved for patients who refuse surgery or for whom it would not offer a good long-term prognosis. That data reflects broader patient populations and does not speak to Washington's individual risk or prognosis.
It is not the first time Novant Health has faced scrutiny over a surgery decision. In a separate case reported by WCNC, Novant canceled a 16-year-old's planned breast-reduction procedure just hours before it was scheduled, before later approving the surgery after reviewing additional documentation, according to a March 13 letter cited in that report. That case involved a different patient and a different procedure, and does not establish any pattern connecting it to Washington's care.
Washington's daughters have sued Novant Health over her care.
