An intrepid teenage powerlifter died of sepsis a mere two months after graduating high school and one month after getting engaged when his doctors failed to clean a stitched-up wound infested with “plant matter,” his grieving father alleged in a lawsuit.
Ethan Cantrell, 18, died on Aug. 20, 2024, just five days after an injury on his arm was stitched up at a Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis, Oregon.
Cantrell, a fifth-generation logger, was stabbed in the right arm while cutting wood on Aug. 15, 2024. He trekked to the medical center for treatment, where doctors “attempted to irrigate” the wound with saline, then sutured it “tightly,” according to the medical negligence lawsuit obtained by NBC News.
An X-ray ordered by one of the two Good Samaritan doctors whom Cantrell’s father is suing revealed “soft tissue air, but no bone abnormality and no radio-opaque foreign body” in his arm.
Cantrell was swiftly discharged and prescribed to take an antibiotic for seven days.
Later that afternoon, though, Cantrell’s arm started to swell while his temperature inched up to 102 degrees Fahrenheit. When his mother called the hospital, a nurse assured her that there was no cause for concern because he was taking antibiotics, the suit said.
Cantrell’s arm was “more painful and swollen” the following day, and he started having difficulty breathing on top of persistent headaches, according to the court doc.
The teen’s mom rushed him to the emergency room that night, where he was treated by the same doctor who discharged him. The doctor then concluded that Cantrell likely had a deep-tissue infection.
His condition continued to plummet throughout the night, but the doctor still refrained from removing the sutures or prescribing additional antibiotics, according to the lawsuit.
Within a few hours of arriving at the hospital, Cantrell’s infected arm swelled to nearly triple its normal size and started leaking fluid.
When a doctor finally cut the wound open, they discovered “over 12 pieces of organic plant matter, including twigs, pine needles, and moss,” the lawsuit said.
The suit noted that wood, dirt and pine needles generally aren’t flagged on X-ray scans.
Cultures of the removed matter confirmed a bacterial infection. By then, Cantrell’s condition was life-threatening, and his arm was amputated up to his shoulder by a separate surgical team at the Oregon Health & Science University hospital
Cantrell’s health continued to wane even after the amputation, and he died on Aug. 20, 2024 from “necrotizing soft tissue infection from a puncture injury in his right arm,” the suit said.
The lawsuit is seeking $100 million in damages for Cantrell’s death.
The jack-of-all-trades athlete proposed to his high school sweetheart just one month before his death, according to his obituary.
“His tireless dedication to becoming the best version of himself was an inspiration to those around him, and despite setbacks from football injuries and illness, Ethan never wavered in his determination,” his obituary read.
Cantrell is survived by his parents, his three sisters, his fiancée, and his “future in-laws,” according to his obituary.
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