Mastodawn

HappyCrow13 1d ago

🧙🏽Muirén🦉

No mater how famous or wealthy, this is what every Black person, and especially Black women and children, can expect from the healthcare system anywhere in the US.

A New Mexico jury awarded the family of Star Trek icon Nichelle Nichols $13 million in a wrongful death lawsuit against the Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver City, New Mexico.

An expert informed jury ruled the hospital provided substandard care, failed to properly diagnose a treatable heart condition, and then discharging her hours before her death in 2022.

News media are already attempting to softpedal the story. Don't let them!
#BlackFedi #BlackMastodon #Afrofuturism #SciFi #STEM #Women #BlackWomen #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #Uhura #NyotaUhura

@muiren so sad, she was a great actress #blackisbeautiful

Jeri Dansky 1d ago

@muiren Regarding that $13 million:

"Nichols' family is expected to receive only a fraction of the $13 million jury award, Hacsi said.

"Hacsi said $400,000 is the maximum award the family can collect under the state's Tort Claims Act, which regulates hospitals owned by governmental agencies. Because Gila Regional Medical Center is owned by Grant County, the hospital falls under the law that was enacted in the 1970s, she said."

Hacsi is Theresa Hacsi, an attorney for Nichols' family.

https://www.abqjournal.com/news/new-mexico-jury-returns-13-million-verdict-in-death-of-star-trek-actor-nichelle-nichols/3057401

Edit: If that link no longer works to see the full article, try this: https://www.pressreader.com/usa/albuquerque-journal/20260606/281479283095187

New Mexico jury awards $13 million in death of 'Star Trek' actor Nichelle Nichols

A Silver City jury returned a $13 million verdict against Gila Regional Medical Center in the medical malpractice death of Nichelle Nichols, though the family is expected to collect only $400,000 under New Mexico's Tort Claims Act.

abqjournal

@jeridansky @muiren Er, how do I read that? The link gives only the headline.

Jeri Dansky 1d ago

@irina @muiren Hmm, I have that same problem today but it worked OK yesterday, showing the full story. I don't know what changed. You can now get it here:

https://www.pressreader.com/usa/albuquerque-journal/20260606/281479283095187

@jeridansky @muiren Thank you, that works!

@irina
Unfortunately the article still does not really explain that fact. What law is that that can "outrule" a court order??
@jeridansky @muiren

@rugk @jeridansky @muiren Sorry, I don't know anything about US law! I only wanted to read the article, not to explain it.

Jeri Dansky 3h ago

@rugk This was not a court order. It was a jury decision as to the amount of the award. Restrictions on the size of jury awards are not uncommon here.

This is an awful and sad read. 😓😡

⁂ Fish Id Wardrobe 1d ago

@muiren jesus fucking christ

Infoseepage 1d ago

@muiren Must have been quite some evidence of malpractice to award those sort of damages. My understanding is she was almost 90 and had a bunch of health problems including dementia and stroke. Curious about her state's statutes and what the jury's award was in its particulars.

🧙🏽Muirén🦉23h ago

@Infoseepage
The cause of death is public; that personnel who were not qualified did not use standard practices to examine her, discharged her without treatment from the facility, after which she died only a couple of hours later.

To state the obvious, you are literally on the Internet, so if you were honestly “curious,” you would have competently Googled, learned the facts but instead started #JAQing to sow doubt about the case.

Infoseepage 23h ago

@muiren I'm not sowing doubt on the case. A jury heard the evidence and was convinced the circumstances merited that sort of reward. I've barely got an Internet connection ATM, so researching stuff twenty times a day just isn't in the cards. Nichelle Nichols was a ground-breaking, exceptional woman and as a Trekkie, I loved watching her. I remember hearing about a whole slew of elder abuse type allegations surrounding her caregivers and I'm sad that she met with such an apparently poor end.

Jennifer 1d ago

I am heartbroken that we lost Nichelle early do to medical negligence.

I had the good fortune to meet her briefly at a Star Trek convention overt a decade ago when my oldest daughter was less than a year old. We had our picture taken with her and several other female cast members (Women of Trek). She gushed over how adorable and cheerful my daughter was and asked to hold her for the picture. I happily obliged but my daughter was having none of it. Nichelle didn't get offended or upset, she graciously handed her back and laughingly remarked that my daughter was probably wondering "who is this strange woman holding me?". She dealt with the whole series of events with grace, joy, and poise.

Carolyn 18h ago

@muiren And she was not just a celebrity, she was Uhuru, who was an idol to not just Black kids, but nerdy little science girls of all colours.

I know that her family was also fighting over her, which didn’t help. :(