A Florida family grieving the loss of a toddler is now pointing the finger at the hospital where he was being treated, citing negligence as the cause of a death that could have been prevented.
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As Law & Crime reported, the family of 2-year-old De’Markus Page has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital in Gainesville, Fla. in connection with his March 2024 death. The suit alleges that after a staff member deleted a critical decimal point on his chart, Page received a dose of potassium phosphate, which was ten times the amount he was prescribed. The suit goes on to say that hospital staff failed to act immediately when the boy went into cardiac arrest, waiting more than 20 minutes before they began life-saving treatment.
According to the Alachua Chronicle, Page was transferred from Advent Health Ocala to Shands Children’s Hospital for treatment of a virus and “critically low potassium levels.”
The family’s suit goes on to say that “Inadequate training and equipment” at the teaching hospital associated with the University of Florida led to multiple failed attempts to intubate Page and provide him with adequate oxygen. They say he would have survived the potassium overdose if not for the delay, which led to “catastrophic brain injury.”
De’Markus’s mother, Dominique Page, says she still has nightmares about losing her young son, who passed away in her arms.
“It’s been extremely difficult since the passing of my son, because to this day, I still have not known what happened,” she told WCJB News. “I was never told. When I asked, it was always so vague.”
The family’s attorney, Jordan Dulcie, told Law & Crime that he is committed to seeking justice for the family’s unthinkable loss.
“What this family has endured is unimaginable and the worst part is that it was entirely preventable,” he said. “I’m committed to holding the University of Florida Shands Children’s Hospital fully accountable and presenting this case to a jury to avoid this tremendous grief from happening to another family.”
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