By Michael Donoghue
Vermont News First

RUTLAND — The estate of a local man, who claims he died from mistreatment at the Rutland Regional Medical Center in February 2025 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the hospital.

Jennifer Pidgeon, the administrator for the estate of Jody L. Pidgeon is suing the Rutland Hospital, doing business as the RRMC, under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, according to records in U.S. District Court in Burlington.

The lawsuit makes seven claims against the hospital, including wrongful death of Jody L. Pidgeon, wrongful injury before death, failure to stabilize the patient before discharging, failure to provide appropriate screening in the Emergency Department, reckless infliction of emotional distress on Jennifer Pidgeon and the loss of consortium for her.

The federal lawsuit seeks punitive damages and reasonable fees for the estate’s legal team.

Pidgeon’s lawyer, Michael Hanley of White River Junction, was forced to file a Vermont Public Records request in Vermont Superior Court in Montpelier when Rutland City Police Department refused to surrender some of the critical documents.

The city of Rutland, after it was sued, opted not to contest the lawsuit and eventually turned over the public records for the case, court documents show.

While Pidgeon was hospitalized, Rutland Medical employees urged the patient to enter hospice care and encouraged him to agree to a “do not resuscitate” (DNR) order, the lawsuit noted.  It noted Pidgeon initially agreed, but then revoked the DNR.

RRMC spokeswoman Gerianne Smart said this week she was limited in any comments she could make.

“While Rutland Regional Medical Center cannot comment on active litigation, it is important to note that the complaint contains numerous inaccuracies. RRMC remains deeply committed to providing safe, high-quality, and compassionate care, and we take our responsibility to patients and their families very seriously,” she said in an email.

 Defense lawyer Curtis Carpenter of Burlington has filed a motion to dismiss, but Hanley has objected.

There are no known dates for any court hearings before Senior Federal Judge William K. Sessions.

Jody Pidgeon suffered from significant medical conditions and was evicted from the hospital Feb. 10, 2025, two days after he was admitted for infections, the lawsuit notes.

Hospital employees decided they wanted Pidgeon discharged that day while he was having episodes of delirium, the lawsuit said.  He was discharged, but was in a minor car accident upon leaving and was brought back to the hospital where he died, records show.

Pidgeon, who died one day before his 61^st birthday, lived most of his life in Rutland, Addison and Chittenden Counties.  He worked at different restaurant and janitor jobs, his obituary said.  He was a 2020 graduate of West Rutland High School through the adult diploma program.

On the morning of Feb. 10, 2025, a Rutland Medical doctor told Pidgeon he was going to be discharged  and a few hours later hospital employees told him he had to leave, the lawsuit said.

Pidgeon, who was having trouble speaking, made it clear to hospital employees that he wished to remain at the Medical Center for treatment, according to Hanley.

Yet, the hospital employees insisted on his discharge and put him in a wheelchair, pushed him to the entrance of the Emergency Department (ED) and threw his hat out the door, the lawsuit said.  An employee then proceed to roll Pidgeon out the door and leave him sitting in the wheelchair, the lawsuit said.

Pidgeon stood and tried to re-enter the hospital, but employees prevented him from gaining access, the lawsuit said.

A hospital employee called Rutland City Police at about 2:38 p.m. to assert Pidgeon had been discharged and he was now “trespassing” by failing to leave the grounds, Hanley wrote in the lawsuit.

When Rutland City Police officers arrived, Pidgeon was still in the wheelchair at the entrance and sitting across from hospital security staff, the lawsuit said.

About the only thing Pidgeon could say to Rutland Police and hospital staff was “help me,” the lawsuit said.

Rutland Police were told by RRMC employees that Pidgeon was “faking it” and “pretending to not talk because he did not want to leave,” the lawsuit said.

A RRMC employee prepared and signed a no trespass order and served it on Pidgeon, Hanley wrote.

Pidgeon subsequently was given discharge instructions with orders to return to the Rutland hospital the next day for treatment, the lawsuit said.

Multiple Rutland Police officers insisted that Pidgeon get out of the wheelchair and several officers later lifted him out of the wheelchair, Hanley wrote  in the lawsuit.  The officers held his arms as they walked him to his automobile in the Emergency Department parking lot, records show.

Rutland Police warned him he would be arrested if he returned to the hospital.  The officers left after he got into his snow-covered car, where he remained for a short time.  A hospital employee removed the snow from the windshield and said he had to leave, the lawsuit said.

Another hospital employee had said the discharged patient was in no condition to operate a car, but Pidgeon ended up driving away, the lawsuit said.  Rutland Police were summoned again and found Pidgeon’s car in a snowbank in a parking lot at Wilcox Pharmacy on Stratton Road a short distance from the hospital.

Pidgeon was unresponsive and police had to break a window in the car to remove him, the lawsuit said. Rutland Regional Ambulance Service was summoned at 3:19 p.m. and two minutes later Emergency Medical Technicians arrived, Hanley wrote.

At least one EMT found Pidgeon “hot to the touch” and said he showed “signs of profound shock,” the lawsuit said.  The EMT believed Pidgeon was septic – a life-threatening conditions that happens when the body’s immune system reacts to infection, court records note.

The EMTs put him in the ambulance for a one-minute ride to the hospital, where he had been booted from and issued a no trespass order about an hour earlier, the lawsuit said.

“Mr. Pidgeon was gray, his lips were dried and cracked, his stomach was distended, his body covered with dark purple sores, dark thick blood was coming from his nose, his legs from the knees down were two to three times their normal size, and there were open wounds on his skins and feet,” Hanley wrote in court documents.

Rutland Regional employees told the EMTs that Pidgeon could not be brought into the Emergency Department, the lawsuit said.  One witness reported that Pidgeon – while on a gurney in the hallway outside the ED, was “withering in pain” and able to say little beyond “help,” the lawsuit said.

One hospital employee also claimed Pidgeon was “faking it,” but an EMT insisted “I guarantee you he’s not (expletive) faking it.  He’s hot to the touch and he septic,” the lawsuit noted. 

Rutland Regional health providers refused or failed to provide medical care to Pidgeon, the lawsuit claims.

Dr. Daniel Burton, who specializes in emergency medicine, saw Pidgeon in the hallway outside the ED, “but failed to do a proper assessment of Pidgeon and failed to provide any care…” the lawsuit noted.  Burton who joined RRMC in 2024, is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit – only the hospital.

Due to the failure of RRMC healthcare providers coming to aid Pidgeon, at least one EMT from the ambulance and a hospital security guard tried to provide care to the patient while on the gurney at the entrance to the ED, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit then outlines the following inaction by RRMC personnel.

Ambulance EMTs attempted to give Pidgeon oxygen and place heart monitor leads on Pidgeon’s body.  After hooking up Pidgeon, the heart monitor began a public alerting by providing audible alarms.  The EMT crew let the alarms continue in the hopes the hospital staff would respond, the lawsuit said.

It added, “No nurses came but Dr. (Daniel) Burton (an employee of RRMC) did stand outside of the room without providing physical assistance.”

An ED technician eventually came in and assisted the Ambulance EMT crew, which noted Pidgeon’s condition continued to deteriorate and informed Burton, the lawsuit said.  Burton eventually entered the room.

Pidgeon struggled to speak, but made eye contact with an ambulance EMT, two hospital security guards and Dr. Burton, the lawsuit said.  Pidgeon struggled to speak and was able to say “yes” when asked by Burton if he wanted to be intubated, it said.

Burton left the room without intubating Pidgeon, the lawsuit said. 

Several minutes later, a second physician walked to the doorway and looked visibly shocked, Hanley wrote.  The unnamed doctor left, but she returned not long after and ordered RRMC to take Pidgeon to a resuscitation room and treat him, the lawsuit said.

A RRMC called Pidgeon’s wife to report her husband had driven his car over an embankment and that he would not survive the injuries sustained.  The report to the wife that Pidgeon drove over an embankment proved to be false, Haley said.

While RRMC ED personnel, including Dr. Burton, were trying to treat Pidgeon, a hospital employee told them not to intubate him, the lawsuit said.

Pidgeon died while RRMC employees were attempting to intubate him, records show.  He died about 4:48 p.m., about 80 minutes after his return to the hospital, the lawsuit said.

Rutland Police received a call 20 minutes later from a witness that asked to remain anonymous, but described the events.  Rutland Police began a death investigation, which was shared with the Adult Protection Services at the Vermont Attorney General’s Office.

The lead police investigator, Detective Cpl. Misty Jax, conducted interviews, took photographs and collected hospital video.

Jax had reported “there were no visual signs of trauma due to a motor vehicle accident,” the lawsuit said.  An autopsy was requested from the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office.

The autopsy show the death was due to “chronic myelomonocytic leukemia” and “other significant conditions.”  They included bowel perforation caused by an ingested toothpick, diabetes and a  respiratory infection, the lawsuit said.

The Medical Examiner wrote the manner of death was classified as an “accident (an ingested toothpick).”  The Medical Examiner added comments in her report that “while the date of this injury is uncertain, the gross and histopathologic appearance of this bowel perforation suggest a more remote injury/perforation.”

The lawsuit maintains that the perforation is the probable cause of the infection while Pidgeon was a patient between Feb. 8 and Feb. 10, 2025.