Hospital Under Scrutiny after Woman Dies after Colonoscopy

Missouri inspectors have found that staff at hospital south of Kansas City failed to properly respond to an 83-year-old woman who showed distress after a routine colonoscopy and died the next day from internal bleeding.

The Kansas City Star reports that inspectors went to Cass Regional Medical Center in late November after receiving a complaint about the Aug. 3 death of Martha Wright, of Pleasant Hill.

The inspectors passed their findings to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, which classified the situation as an “immediate jeopardy” that “placed all patients at the facility at risk.”

Cass Regional CEO Chris Lang said via email that the hospital is complying with the feds’ guidance.

Wright’s daughter, Dena Royal, says she has hired an attorney who is preparing to sue.