HOSPITAL SUED BY BEATEN MAN'S FAMILY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 20, 1993                   TAG: 9303200317
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
HOSPITAL SUED BY BEATEN MAN'S FAMILY
The family of a Roanoke man who died shortly after being treated for head injuries and released from Community Hospital is suing the hospital for $1 million.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Roanoke Circuit Court, stems from the 1991 beating death of Rufus David Hicks.
Testimony in unrelated court hearings has shown that Hicks was severely beaten by two men on 13th Street, reportedly after someone in a crowd offered the assailants a bottle of wine if they attacked him as he walked by.
Police found Hicks, 23, lying face down in the street. He was taken to Community Hospital's emergency room, treated, and released 15 minutes later, the suit alleges.
The suit claims that Dr. Thompson Berdeen - also named as a defendant in the lawsuit - and other emergency workers gave Hicks a "cursory examination" and then advised him to go home.
Several hours later, Hicks became ill and was taken by a relative to Roanoke Memorial Hospital. He was determined there to be "near brain-dead," the suit states.
The head injuries were "far too advanced and had been untreated for far too long for his life to be saved," the suit claims. Hicks died a day later.
Two men were arrested in connection with Hicks' death, but the charges were later dropped because authorities were unsure exactly who or what caused the fatal blows to his head.
An autopsy found that Hicks had an extremely thin skull that made him more susceptible to head injuries from a blow or a fall. The criminal investigation also revealed that Hicks told emergency room officials at Community that he felt well enough to leave.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB