Family of patient found frozen on Waukegan hospital roof files suit: 'We will get justice for Chelsea"
Chelsea Adolphus was admitted to Vista Medical Center East for medical care, and now her family wants to know how she came to be found hours later on the hospital's roof, unconscious, clad only in a hospital gown, suffering from cold exposure.
Adolphus, 28, died of hypothermia after being outdoors for nearly seven hours.
Her family has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Waukegan hospital alleging negligence, premise liability and medical malpractice, attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family, said Wednesday.
"From the day she was checked in, she was under [the hospital's] care," Chelsea Adolphus' brother, Paul Adolphus Jr., said at a news conference Wednesday, fighting through tears. "My sister was not supposed to be dead. If my sister didn't go to the hospital, I would still have my sister."
Chelsea Adolphus was admitted about 4 a.m. Jan. 22 "seeking medical treatment and help." She left her room about 2 a.m. Jan. 23 but wasn't found until 8:45 a.m., Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said. The high temperature that day was 28; the low was 15.
Hospital staff brought her to the emergency department, where her body temperature was about 50 degrees. They tried to resuscitate her for 14 hours. She was pronounced dead just after 11 p.m., Banek said.
After his sister had gone missing, Paul Adolphus Jr. went to the hospital looking for answers and said he was given a false story by hospital staff.
Paul Adolphus Jr. said doctors, nurses and hospital leadership told him that his sister had left the hospital and was found unresponsive two blocks away at a Family Dollar store.
He found out on social media that his sister had died of cold exposure.
"My sister never left the facility from when she got there Wednesday," Paul Adolphus Jr. said. "Why look my family in the eye and lie about where my sister was found? What were you covering up?"
It's not clear how Chelsea Adolphus got access to the roof of the hospital, but officials said the door to the roof was locked from the outside.
"We promised the family that we will get to the truth of what happened," Crump said. "We will get accountability for what happened, and we will get justice for Chelsea."
Banek said the hospital didn't initially notify the Waukegan Police Department of the incident. The Lake County coroner's office reported the death to police on Jan. 23.
"Since at least December 2023, I have voiced my concerns about the lack of care and safety measures at this facility," Banek said at a news conference Monday. Banek previously worked at the hospital as a nurse anesthesiologist.
Banek said her office issued a preservation letter to the hospital to ensure that all paper, video, digital and electronic evidence is preserved.
"In high-stakes industries, like healthcare, we rely on evidence-based practices, transparency and effective oversight as protective measures to make certain people don't die," Banek said. "A death is not the threshold by which we should be measuring the necessity for a call to action."
Vista Medical Center East CEO Kevin Spiegel said at a news conference Wednesday the hospital filed a request to the court for an emergency injunction to have Banek removed from the investigation and replaced with an impartial party.
Spiegel called Banek's comments "biased" and "retaliatory" and said she was "using her position as an elected official to influence the public's opinion and bolster support for a personal vendetta."