An Overland Park man whose wife died by suicide won his argument in Johnson County District Court when a jury found two medical professionals at a Merriam hospital were at fault for the woman’s death due to medical negligence.
After a two-week jury trial, which concluded on Friday, Christopher Yates was awarded $5.7 million for the wrongful death of his wife, Kim Yates.
The verdict is the largest in Johnson County history for a case involving wrongful death or medical negligence, according to a press release citing records from the Greater Kansas City Jury Verdict Service.
Attorneys Scott Nutter, Daniel Singer and Jane Rose of Shamberg, Johnson & Bergman, who represented Yates in court, filed the lawsuit against AdventHealth Shawnee Mission Medical Center and EM Specialists, P.A., as well as AdventHealth hospital employee Mandy Whitehead, a licensed professional counselor, and Lorene Creasser, a nurse practitioner for EM Specialists.
The lawsuit alleged that on April 11, 2021, when Christopher Yates took Kim to the hospital after witnessing her second attempt at suicide, she was at first determined at a triage assessment to be at “high risk” for suicide.
Despite that, Whitehead and Creasser recommended that Kim be discharged the day she was admitted, and she was released, according to court records.
Three days later, on April 14, 2021, Kim died by suicide in the manner that Christopher witnessed her attempting before he took her to the hospital, according to court records. She was 49 years old.
Judge Robert J. Wonnell was the presiding judge in the case.
When reached for comment by the Johnson County Post, a spokesperson for AdventHealth said they could not comment specifically on the case, but provided the following statement:
“Our hearts go out to everyone affected in this case; and our prayers remain with the family,” they stated in an email. “We are unable to respond to the details of this case due [to] the legal nature of this matter. We can share, however, we are disappointed with the outcome and stand behind our providers, who are deeply committed to the health and wellbeing of our patients.”
Below is a copy of the case filing.
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Open in new tab Kim Yates was an accomplished business executive
A decorated businesswoman, Kim Yates was the breadwinner of the Yates family, having served as the vice president of marketing and new business development at Russell Stover in Kansas City and vice president of Marketing for Lee Jeans, among other high-level positions.
“She was brilliant. She was well known in the community. She was a high-level executive. She was a football mom, a loving wife, loving mother (and had) friends in many communities,” Nutter said.
Describing her as a “rock star,” Christopher said she was a mentor and friend to many people.
“She didn’t step over people; she brought them along for the ride,” he said. “She was one of those individuals that would inspire, mentor, listen and make sure that… everybody was heard.”
After she suffered a stroke in late 2020, her demeanor changed.
“That affected her brain. A stroke causes depression, anxiety, insomnia in a lot of people, and so it had that effect on Kim. So she started to struggle mentally and emotionally,” Nutter said.
In early 2021, Christopher Yates witnessed her trying to die by suicide twice, with the second attempt prompting him to take her to AdventHealth Shawnee Mission.
The point of the lawsuit, Nutter said, was to show that suicide attempts need to be taken more seriously.
“Our allegation is that with a proper assessment in the emergency room by both the nurse practitioner and/or the behavioral health counselor that performed the assessment, that Kim would have been identified as a high-risk suicide patient who needed to be admitted for treatment,” Nutter said.
Trial was emotional for Yates’ family
Before filing the lawsuit, Christopher said he spoke with their children, Megan and Zachary, to make sure they supported it.
“My daughter said it best, that she wouldn’t want any other 17-year-old girl to have to go through what she had to go through with losing her mom,” he said, “So that kind of solved it for me, that we were going to move forward no matter what it was, and we were going to be there for each other.”
Going through the lengthy court process, Christopher said he kept his thoughts on Kim and what she would have wanted.
“This happened four and a half years ago, and my main focus, after my wife passed away, was getting my kids through high school and then getting them into college,” he said. “Once that had happened, I wanted to make sure that I didn’t let this pass without making the effort to get justice for Kim. I know that if her roles were reversed, she would have been fighting for me as well.”
When the jury announced the verdict, Christopher said all he heard was they found the defendant to be at fault for Kim’s death.
“(When) the judge read off the verdict form and the (jury) said, ‘Do you find fault?’ And when he responded with their answer of ‘Yes,’ I felt like that I’d finally cross that finish line for Kim and fighting this and getting the Justice she deserved,” he said.
Yates and his attorneys hope suicide attempts are taken more seriously
When Christopher took Kim to the hospital, he said felt like her suicide attempt was brushed off.
“That day that I had taken Kim to the hospital to get help, I didn’t feel like I was being taken seriously,” he said.
Not wanting others to have to go through similar circumstances, Christopher and his attorneys hope this changes how medical centers assess people who attempted suicide or are having suicidal thoughts.
“Although we’ve made progress on mental health and taking it seriously, we need to do better,” Nutter said. “If a patient shows up to an emergency room who is suicidal, it needs to be treated like a heart attack … It’s life and death, and this case proves it.”
The family will continue honoring Kim’s memory
Since Kim’s death, the family has honored her memory in a variety of ways, Christopher said.
For her 50th birthday, they raised more than $10,000 for a donation to the American Heart Association in her name.
Both Zachary and Megan have also been raising awareness about stroke and heart disease. Megan landed an internship at the American Heart Association.
“We’ve been honoring Kim since this tragedy happened, and we’ll continue to honor her,” Christopher said. “This wasn’t going to change anything about the way we did that, but hopefully, with this now getting out, people will… have a better understanding of what it means and the different things that you should look for when somebody is in this type of position.”
