North Texas ERs put speed over care with deadly consequences, grieving moms say
Two North Texas moms are pushing for a mandatory sepsis protocol in Texas hospitals after one of their sons died and another almost lost his life after going into septic shock.
Reasa Selph’s son, Nicholas Mata, nearly died after he was twice discharged from Methodist Southlake Medical Center. Selph says that the hospital improperly discharged him and failed to recognize the signs of severe illness in her son.
Tatasha Whetstone’s son, Darren Keith Stanley Jr., died from cerebral herniation, fulminant bacterial meningitis, and invasive bacterial sinusitis, according to his death certificate, after he was twice discharged from Methodist Charlton Medical Center in Dallas. Both moms are suing the hospitals in addition to pushing for legislative change.
“We want to see accountability,” Selph said. “We want to see change.”
A spokesman for Methodist Health System said in a statement: “Methodist Health System has a long-standing policy of not commenting on pending litigation.”
Selph and Whetstone started working together after they realized how similar their sons’ cases were.
“We really started to talk about the commonalities of what happened,” Selph said. “And that’s when we realized that, OK, there’s a bigger problem here.”
Selph’s son, Nicholas, was seen twice at Methodist Southlake Medical Center in December 2023, where he was diagnosed with nausea, vomiting, and an upper respiratory infection and sent home. On Christmas morning, Nicholas was yellow and gray, and his blood pressure was so low that Selph thought the machine was broken, she said. She called their family doctor at home, and the doctor advised them to take Nicholas straight to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth. There, doctors told Selph that Nicholas was in septic shock, and he spent the next month in the hospital.
A federal survey by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services after Nicholas was treated found the hospital “failed to recognize and treat sepsis and was inappropriately discharged.”
Whetstone’s case was eerily similar. On Sept. 28, 2023, Darren Keith Stanley Jr., went to Methodist Charlton Medical Center with an excruciating headache, a fever, and colored nasal discharge, according to Whetstone’s lawsuit against Methodist. He was discharged with a diagnosis of migraine and Influenza B. Five days later, on Oct. 3, Stanley returned to the Methodist Charlton Medical Center with worsening symptoms, Whetstone said. He was again diagnosed with a migraine and Influenza B, despite his records showing that he was at high risk for sepsis, she said.
“I said, ‘OK, in the morning, if you’re not feeling better, I’m taking you to another hospital,’” Whetstone said.
On Oct. 4, Stanley went to Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas and was diagnosed with invasive bacterial sinusitis, fulminant bacterial meningitis, cavernous sinus thrombosis, altered mental status, and septic shock. He died Oct. 5.
Dr. Chris Moore, an expert in emergency medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, reviewed Nicholas’ and Stanley’s records at the Star-Telegram’s request and called both “very unusual cases.”
Two experts consulted by Selph — Dr. Neal Zeigler and Dr. James Lewerenz — both concluded that Nicholas’ treatment breached the standard of care.
Whetstone and Selph faulted the hospitals’ staffing and billing systems with prioritizing speed over accurate care.
“It’s like they were more interested in getting people out of the hospital than actually taking care and making sure they actually paid attention to the patient themselves,” Whetstone said.
Selph in particular faulted the payment structure for most emergency room doctors, which pays a base rate plus an additional amount per patient encounter. Such a system encourages doctors to move quickly through patients, she said. Selph has also met with lawmakers to try and craft a mandatory sepsis protocol bill.
“We don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” Selph said.
