Honoring my Grandfather

Hi, my name is Madison Meredith. I'm starting this GoFundMe in hopes of paying Attorney fees for the wrongful death of my best friend and Grandfather, Gary Meredith. PLEASE take a few minutes out of your day to read about this amazing man and his life.

This is the story of a loving, supportive and wholesome family man. Gary was the youngest of 8 siblings. He was one of the most generous loving people I’ve ever met. Growing up, my grandfather always wanted to have a big family. When he was 25, he found out he was incapable of having children himself. Discovering this news devastated him because he always wanted to have a family of his own. This didn’t stop his dream of having a family though. Around the same time he was given this sad news, my grandmother was a struggling single mother to a 6-month-old baby (my dad.) By the grace of God, my grandparents met and instantly fell in love. I mean the type of love everybody craves at some point in their life; you could feel their love from across the room just by how they looked at each other. They were inseparable. He knew he was exactly where he was supposed to be. They got married 9 months later and he adopted my father. He loved and raised my dad as his own.

When my grandpa was 48 years old, he had a heart attack, which required a stint put in his heart. Shortly thereafter, the stint collapsed and he required a triple bypass surgery. The hospital didn’t do a good job and the surgery immediately failed which required another surgery. Due to this failure, significant damage was done to his heart and an implantable cardiac defibrillator/pacemaker had to be installed. My grandfather was always a soldier and loved life. He lived another 23 years taking care of my entire family, including cousins with no father figure, and numerous children my grandma babysat throughout the years. He provided guidance, love and direction to so many people throughout his life. He was one of a kind.

On 8/31/2020, my Grandfather began suffering from not being able to eat and was diagnosed with STAGE 1 Esophageal Cancer. We found out this was caused by the diabetic medications he had been prescribed. He trusted the medical experts advice and went through chemotherapy and radiation. He went through a rough patch after these treatments and seemed to be getting better. Then, mid-January 2021, he began forgetting things, like recognizing whose cars were in the driveway and where the trash bags were located. We took him back to the hospital because this was frightening to experience. During this visit, it was revealed to us that he had a brain tumor. Once again, he took the doctor's advice and went through cyber knife radiation to shrink the tumor. He did everything the experts recommended and seemed to be doing better.

This is when everything began taking a turn for the worse. On Valentine’s Day 2021, he began having issues with not being able to go to the bathroom. We waited three days and decided to take him to the ER. Multiple tests and CT scans were performed and he stayed at the hospital awaiting the results. To our surprise, two of the ER doctors said after looking at the scan results they see two masses in his colon and stomach, which were in the previous scans too. We were shocked because this was never revealed to us previously and meant he was stage 4, the entire time! During this hospital stay, my grandpa had not eaten or gone to the bathroom for five days, he was very weak. At 6:00 am on February 22nd, my grandma received a call from the hospital and was informed that there was an incident and my grandpa had hit his head. We rushed to the hospital and the nurse said that a transport team of four people sat him up on the bed, left him unattended and he fell face-first to the ground and smacked his head. When asked why were they moving him, they said in order to take him to have a port put in his chest! Nobody ever agreed to this, nor were we told! We requested a copy of the incident report and were denied as they said it was for internal use only. When we saw the doctor who would have put in this order for the port, he denied it and said, “I didn’t put in this order.” From this point on, my grandpa’s health deteriorated rapidly. His defibrillator began going off constantly, as much as 13 times in one day! We later found out this was due to brain damage from the fall, as his brain wasn’t communicating with his heart properly. A number of other incidents happened while he was in the hospital’s care, but this fall is what killed him.

We had a private autopsy performed and the cause of death was “blunt force trauma to the head” but the death certificate from the hospital says he died from cancer which isn’t the case. The physician which performed the autopsy was also denied a copy of the incident report from the hospital. We filed a report with the NC Department of Health and they too found the hospital negligent for my grandpa’s care.

We’ve contacted numerous attorneys and in order for them to take the case, they want $100,000. On my grandpa’s deathbed, he asked the family to not let the hospital get away with this. In honor of his request, we want to hold the hospital and doctors accountable for their negligence. My grandpa passed 12 days after the fall on March 6, 2021. We have enough evidence to win this case and must do so before March 6, 2023, as the two-year suit deadline ends. All money raised will be used to fight this case and hold the hospital accountable. Anything helps. Thank you!

***For those wondering why $100k is needed, it’s because no attorney is willing to take this case pro bono. If you know of a malpractice attorney that is licensed in North Carolina, please share their information with us. What we’ve been told by other attorneys, is that the laws in North Carolina were changed in 2011 and the cap a doctor/hospital can be sued for wrongful/accidental death/malpractice in this type of case is $535k. . No attorney wants the case pro bono because their fee is 40%, if they win. This type of case takes two years. The legal team for the hospitals are the best. So basically we are asking an attorney to work for two years with a possibility of being paid $200k. If this happened in any other state an attorney would be willing to do this pro bono because they would have a chance of being paid much more. This isn’t about the money for us, it’s about holding the hospital and doctors accountable.