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SALT LAKE CITY — Chris Anglesey nearly died in the U.S. Army's march into Baghdad as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
While responding as a medic to a downed helicopter, a rocket-propelled grenade hit the vehicle he was riding in. Anglesey returned home with a Bronze Star and a partial disability.
Anglesey, who grew up in Kaysville, worked as a paramedic/firefighter in South Carolina and Arizona, eventually finding his way back to Utah for a job with the Tooele Army Depot Fire Department. Along the way, he and his wife, Kathy, became the parents of five daughters.
Last summer, he went to the George E. Whalen Veterans Administration Hospital in Salt Lake City after falling over some toys in his Tooele home. Doctors diagnosed him with a broken right tibial plateau and kept him overnight for evaluation. They sent him home the next day with crutches, painkillers and an undetermined date for surgery, court documents state.
"I think she's struggling with the loss," she said. "She's trying to raise the five little girls on her own." -- Attorney Susan Black Dunn
Anglesey returned to the hospital three days later after stumbling on the crutches. He also experienced respiratory problems requiring oxygen. He again stayed overnight, went home with painkillers and no date for surgery.
Two days later, Anglesey was found unresponsive in his home. Efforts to revive him failed. He was 32.
Those details leading to his death are outlined in a federal lawsuit his widow filed this week against the VA hospital and three doctors, alleging negligence and malpractice.
"Unfortunately, he was one of the victims of war," said Susan Black Dunn, one of Kathy Anglesey's attorneys.
Chris Anglesey struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and a brain injury for which he was getting ongoing care at the VA, she said. That, she said, warranted closer monitoring of the drugs he was taking when he went in with the broken leg. The second time he went to the hospital should have been a real red flag, Dunn said.
"Defendants had a duty to provide reasonable, necessary, appropriate and timely medical care and treatment to Mr. Anglesey that was consistent with the standard of care in the medical community," the suit says. "Defendants breached that duty which led to Mr. Anglesey's untimely death."
According to the lawsuit, Anglesey's death certificate says he died from "mixed drug intoxication and pulmonary emboli due to (or a consequence of) recent right leg fracture." An emboli is a basically a blood clot in the lungs.
An autopsy report showed six drugs in his system: hydromorphone, morphine, zolpidem, promethazine, mirtazepine and citalopram, the suit says. Those drugs treat pain, insomnia, allergies and depression.
VA doctors prescribed the medications and Anglesey took them according to the instructions he was given, the lawsuit says.
In a wrongful death claim filed with the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs in February, Kathy Anglesey's other attorney, Roger Sharp, sought a $5 million settlement. Because the VA did not respond to the claim within the allowable six months, her lawyers went ahead with the federal lawsuit.
The lawsuit does not seek a specific amount of damages but says they should cover medical expenses, funeral services, lost earnings and financial support as well as lost love, comfort and protection.
VA attorney Scott Davis said his office is still reviewing the administrative claim and has not come to a resolution. He declined to comment on its merits.
"We do see it as a very tragic case. We are very sympathetic to the family's loss," he said.
Despite his post-war injuries, Anglesey worked hard to provide for his wife and daughters, Dunn said. Kathy Anglesey, whom Dunn said isn't ready to talk publicly, tries to carry on.
"I think she's struggling with the loss," she said. "She's trying to raise the five little girls on her own."
Email:dromboy@ksl.com
