$1.86M lawsuit settled with family of man who died of a heart attack due to slow medical response
SEATTLE - The family of a man who died of a heart attack due to a delayed medical response has settled a nearly $1.9 million suit with the city of Seattle.
On Nov. 21, 2021, William Yurek's 13-year-old son called 911 to get someone to his home to save his father's life.
"My dad is not okay. I don’t know what’s going on. He’s hurt," the teen told dispatchers.
The boy sounded the alarm after Yurek started having chest pains and trouble breathing.
"He’s hurt. I need the ambulance," his son told dispatchers.
The family's attorney, Mark Lindquist, said it only took emergency responders six minutes to get to the home. However, in the claim, he states they, "did not enter the residence because they were told to wait for a police escort."
On the 911 recordings, dispatchers begin telling Seattle Police officers that the address was on a blacklist where EMTs cannot enter a residence with a police escort. The dispatcher says, "We do have a caution note that the unit has a history of threats and needs to be accompanied by you to the scene."
The 13-year-old called 911 again, this time more frantic, saying that his father was barely breathing and he needed medics to hurry.
With that second call, medics entered the home without police. They had been waiting outside for 13 minutes.
Family of man who died waiting for medics to enter home files lawsuit against Seattle
His family says their address was on an outdated "blacklist" of places where EMTs couldn't go without a police escort. Attorneys say 13 minutes passed between the time medics arrived and when they finally entered the home to begin aid.
Yurek did not survive.
The family said in their suit that their father could still be alive if he got medical attention sooner.
Experts say he could have had a 25% chance of survival if medics got there without the blacklist delay. The city says his chance of survival was lower due to drug use (he was in recovery at the time of his death) and a pre-existing medical condition.
Lindquist said in 2022 that the previous occupant, identified as a combative person, no longer lived in the unit and the address should have been removed from that list.
Lindquist alleged the city was negligent in at least two ways: 1) failing to keep an accurate and updated list, and 2) continuing to require police escorts for medics even though it was well known the Seattle Police Department was understaffed and officers were likely to arrive late.
"The family wanted justice and accountability," said Lindquist. "They are pleased the case was resolved justly and fairly. Additionally, we are pleased the city took steps to fix this issue so it won't happen again."
The city announced after the suit that it was revising its guidelines on the use and maintenance of the blacklist.
The city settled the suit for $1,860,000. It was filed in October 2022.