Suit alleges Jackson hospital caused man’s death due to his immigration, uninsured status

The widow of a Wyoming man who died in 2022 is suing St. John’s Health and some of the Jackson hospital’s contractors and doctors, alleging the treatment he received was grossly inadequate due to his uninsured and undocumented status.

In one of the wealthiest areas in the nation, the federal suit hinges on how the area’s hospital treats some of its poorest residents.

“The betrayal and breach by Defendants of their constitutional, statutory, and ethical duties to Mr. Perez was the direct and proximate cause of his horrific, tragic, and untimely death,” the suit filed July 19 in U.S. District Court for Wyoming claims. “Because of Defendants’ actions and inaction, his two young children will grow up without their father and his wife is bereft of her life partner.”

St. John’s Health didn’t return calls for comment, but defendants are expected to respond to the filings’ claims soon.

Ociel Ponce Perez moved to Jackson in 1999, according to the suit, working as a carpenter and later raising two kids with his wife, Silvia Ruth Perez, who also goes by Silvia Ruth Sahino Cano in the filing. He was generous and big-hearted, the suit states, and an active member of Mountain View Baptist Church.

“For decades, he worked hard as a carpenter in construction to support his family, and though he was ultimately an undocumented resident of Jackson, he paid his taxes on the money he made from his strenuous and productive labors,” the filings state. “Mr. Perez loved the mountains of western Wyoming, which he had made his home, and he frequently took his family skiing in the winter and hiking in the summer.”

On July 30, 2022, the 47-year-old Perez went to a local urgent care clinic, which then sent him to the ER at St. John’s Health over an “extremely painful” and dangerous rectal abscess.

Perez had a CT scan at the hospital, received opioid painkillers and the doctors drained the abscess, sending him home with antibiotics.

But these actions were dangerously inadequate, the filing alleges, stating that doctors initially misdiagnosed the type of abscess, missed early signs of gangrene in the CT scan, didn’t consider increased risks from pre-diabetes, released him without proper stabilization or clear follow-up instructions, and ultimately didn’t do near enough to save Perez’s life.

Over the next five days, Perez’s conditions significantly worsened. He visited a doctor, who again sent him to the ER. He had progressed Fournier’s gangrene (a flesh-eating infection), hyponatremia, diabetic ketoacidosis and other major health concerns. He was flown to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center Burn Unit in Idaho Falls, dying the next day before he could be transferred to an even higher level of care in Salt Lake City.

Beyond individual negligence or an accident, the suit claims these actions are part of the hospital’s customs, policies, practices and training in how to deal with patients who are undocumented and uninsured.

“Had such conduct not been customary and pursuant to approved policy and practice, the Defendant [St. John’s Health] would have taken disciplinary or ameliorative action, which they did not,” the filings states.

The action of “dumping” Perez out of the hospital without sufficient stabilization or medical attention is a violation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, the suit alleges. That act requires hospitals with ERs to stabilize and treat patients with medical emergencies, regardless of their ability to pay.

The hospital staff’s actions also violate Wyoming laws and the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, filings say.

“Mr. Perez had a clearly established Fourteenth Amendment right not to be treated differently and worse because of his citizenship status,” the suit says.

Skip Jacobson, one of the attorneys on the case, said this suit was filed after unsuccessful attempts to handle the matter outside the courtroom.

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