Mother claims St. Bernard Hospital's failure to treat son's bronchitis, pneumonia led to his death

St. Bernard Hospital and a doctor are facing a wrongful death suit from a woman who claims they waited too long to treat her son's pneumonia.

Anita Berry, as administrator of the Estate of Corey Berry, filed a lawsuit May 6 in the Cook County Circuit Court against St. Bernard Hospital and Dr. Edith Chaffin.  The suit names Drs. Sami Atassi and Adel Zayyad as respondents in discovery.

According to the suit, Berry's son, Corey, went to the defendants with complaints of respiratory symptoms and was treated for bronchitis on May 3, 2012. Berry claims Corey went to the hospital again May 5, 2012 suffering from pneumonia with chest pain, shortness of breath and body aches.

She accuses the defendants of waiting too long to have a CT scan, which resulted in Corey becoming unstable and dying.

Berry is seeking damages in excess of $50,000 and is being represented in the case by Chicago attorney Don M. Sowers of Motherway & Napleton LLP.

Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2014L004937.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in the Cook County Circuit Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.