Son of Knee Surgery Patient who Died At Holy Family Says He Will Will File Suit

Brian Evans says he will file suit against The Holy Family Hospital, Steward Health Care, Cerberus Capital, nurses, doctors, and LeapFrog Group in death of his mother

 

Brian Evans, the son of Helen Bousquet, who died on October 5th at The Holy Family Hospital in Methuen after knee surgery, says he will file suit against The Holy Family Hospital, Steward Health Care, Cerberus Capital Management, and separately, intends to file a $50 million lawsuit against The LeapFrog Group, who rates the hospital.

Bousquet was admitted to the Holy Family (Caritas) Hospital late last year for knee surgery and died in recovery. She had sleep apnea and was not hooked up to a physician prescribed machine during recovery. 

Evans, a renowned  big band singer who’s hit song “At Fenway” was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame library, says he will claim fraud in his forthcoming suit against LeapFrog Group. LeapFrog Group contends it is non-profit, Evans says he wants to expose who their donors are contending that LeapFrog then rates them.

The American Hospital Association is also concerned about LeapFrog Group.

“In my opinion, some people make a living off the appearance that they care, not what they actually do,” Evans says. “LeapFrog is giving false faith to patients, which results in them being cared for at hospitals such as this, is in my opinion fraudulent. I also believe the Catholic Church should not allow their names to be on privately owned hospitals by an equity firm, which gives older people the belief that it’s safer. I say this as a Catholic myself. Steward Health Care System has no business owning a hospital named Holy Family, St. Elizabeth’s, “St. Annes,” or “Good Samaritan.” It’s just marketing, in my opinion. The moment a private equity firm bought the hospitals, the names should have all been changed to reflect that.”

 Evans spoke with Archdiocese investigator Ed Murphy, who said he’d get back to Evans in “a couple of weeks.” Evans says he never did.

“My mother gave up years of what were to be great years, and she will not have done so for nothing. Aside from the legacy she will have for what she did for me, and with me, as she has been added to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and indeed Red Sox Nation with her work on our forthcoming music video, she will have accomplished more than I ever will in what she did when she gave up her life to bring attention to the dangers of sleep apnea,” says Evans. “She saved lives.”

“People need to get in the habit of screaming when something like this happens to them. The idea that you have no ability to change things is just what they want you to believe. A corporation is run by people, and you all need to lose the fear that they are too big to go after. My mother did it, but it’s the family members who are given the responsibility to be their messenger when they are gone. You are responsible for making the world know that your loved one was here, mattered, and made the world a better place. My mother did just that. I will not let my mother down, and when I see her again, she will know I never sold her out. As anyone who has lost a mom can tell you, it’s when you realize that you will indeed die twice.”

 

Helen Bousquet with William Shatner at Fenway
Helen Bousquet with William Shatner at Fenway

Actor William Shatner, who also suffers from sleep apnea, has conveyed his support in Evans holding those in her untimely death responsible. Shatner has supported the placement of a plaque on M Street in Hampton Beach in her honor, an idea her son came up with.

“I’ve had family members actually say to me that I needed to honor my mother. That I wasn’t by bringing up what I believed had been done to her on the day she passed away. I knew there was nothing I could do. There was coming to the conclusion that this was real, which is a shocking feeling they make no pill that I can give you to describe, and then phase two, which was making sure I made certain that her life mattered to this world, not just to me. My mother was brilliant in many ways, and it’s my job to make sure people know it. She enjoyed a lot, but not enough. I want her honored among the living, not on a plaque in a park that ten people a year see.”

Evans says he wants doctors and nurses fired over this, and has filed a police report with Methuen Police seeking criminal charges. 

“Just because the building says hospital, doesn’t give the people inside who work there some free pass to ignore the patients. God knows they bill the insurance companies no matter what the outcome, even when they screw up.”

Nurses protested the hospital just eight weeks after Helen passed away, advising Steward Health Care System that they do not have enough nurses on staff to care for their own patients. Steward Health Care System is owned by Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm.

Evans says any monies that come from any lawsuit will “go to things my mother cared about. Children, animals, and dancing for kids. My mother didn’t die so that I could buy stuff. The one thing she taught me more than anything is how meaningless material things are, and nothing taught me that more than going through this.”

Evans says he will also file suit against all doctors involved in her care prior to what was supposed to be a routine knee surgery, a surgery she was having so that she could go dancing again without pain.

“They took away what was most important to her, they took away the entire dream of it. So now, I’m going to do the same to them.”

CNN is now in process of doing a story on Helen Bousquet. Actor Tom Hanks is doing a recording that will welcome visitors to her website, www.helenbousquet.com. It will be up in the next few weeks.

“Whatever brings attention to what happened to her is all I care about,” says Evans.

Evans contacted former Vice-President Dan Quayle, an executive of Cerberus (who owns Steward Health Care System), and he received no response.

The American Sleep Apnea Association has placed Helen Bousquet on their home page at www.sleepapnea.org. They will proclaim her birthday, January 21st, as “Helen Bousquet Day” nationally.

Evans is going to work with The Sleep Apnea Association to create a bill in his mother’s name that requires all patients with pre-existing conditions be monitored until they are discharged following any surgery.

“One would think that’s already the law, but it’s not. It will be,” says Evans. “This is all I can do about this now. I can’t bring her back.”

 Related Stories:

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Son of Dead Holy Family Hospital patient to Meet with Officials, Declines Meeting with Hospital.

Woman Dies after Knee Surgery at Holy Family Hospital – Son Calls for Criminally Negligent Homicide Charges