Family Awarded $2.5 Million in Wrongful Emergency Room Death Settlement

The family of an El Paso man who died at Sun Towers Hospital 8.5 years ago reportedly will receive $2 million in an out-of-court settlement of a wrongful-death lawsuit.

The lawsuit contended that Eugene Wilder, 65, died at the Sun Towers emergency room in 1980 after a nurse mistakenly gave him 20 times the amount of heart medication prescribed by doctors. The lawsuit also alleged that the hospital tried to cover up the error.

The settlement between the hospital and its insurance companies and the family – widow Jane Wilder Feldberg and two children – was reached prior to trial.

“This was a horrible situation that should never have occurred,” said Jim Scherr, the family’s lawyer. “There isn’t enough in the world to pay for what happened here.”