When King of Comedy, Bernie Mac, died in the summer of 2008 little was known about his serious medical condition. The comedian/actor suffered with sarcoidosis for years, until he tragically died of complications from pneumonia. After examining Mac’s case, his widow Rhonda McCullough has filed a suit against Mac’s longtime doctor, accusing him of negligence in failing to properly treat the star in the weeks before he passed away.
According to the complaint McCullough filed in court, the physician, “failed to recognize and act upon abnormal vital signs and signs of respiratory failure” during a July 17, 2007, visit.
She believes his death could have been prevented if the doctor would have detected the symptoms of pneumonia and called an ambulance, instead of keeping Mac at the clinic for nine hours setting off a chain of reactions that lead to his death.
E! Online reports that Dr. Rene M. Earles, who considered Mac a friend and had for 20 years treated skin lesion condition on his head, face and neck caused by sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease, told the Chicago Sun-Times he thought the Emmy-nominated actor may have had an allergic reaction to an injection another doctor had given him.
In any case, the dermatologist said that after stabilizing Mac with oxygen and letting him sleep, he sent Mac to Northwestern Hospital, where he picked up another bug.
“He didn’t die the next day, he didn’t die in two days. He died in two weeks and he got over his original strain of pneumonia. He got another strain of pneumonia while he was in the hospital,” Earles told the paper, noting he was heartsick over his pal’s death.
McCullough is seeking $50,000 in damages.
