Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- Bill Reagan filed a lawsuit against University of Utah Health, alleging inadequate care led to his wife Julia's death.
- He claims medical staff failed to address her symptoms and aspiration risk, resulting in her fatal cardiac arrest.
- Reagan has honored his wife with over 300 billboards, helping him cope with her loss.
SALT LAKE CITY — A husband who has honored and remembered his wife, Julia Reagan, through billboards across Utah and other states is now claiming University of Utah Health should have been able to save her life by providing reasonable care.
Bill Reagan is asking for money to account for his wife's pain after she was admitted to the hospital, pain he and their descendants encountered due to her death, along with medical and funeral expenses.
Following Julia Reagan's death, her husband placed over 300 billboards with his wife's picture calling her a "loving wife, mother and grandmother" in each market where their business, Reagan Outdoor Advertising, operates. He told KSL seeing them while he is working helps him deal with his grief.
"I kissed her goodnight the night before, but I never really had a chance to say goodbye to her," Bill Reagan said. "And so now she's right on the board so I can say goodbye every time I see one."
In a medical malpractice lawsuit filed on Friday, Bill Reagan said they returned home from an annual checkup at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota on June 8, 2024, where she had a clean bill of health. Just two days later, she was feeling dehydrated and drowsy, and he called for an EMT, who said she was stable and did not need an emergency room.
The next day, Bill Reagan called an ambulance, which took her to the hospital in the afternoon, where she stayed until early the next morning when she was admitted into the hospital.
A CT scan taken at the hospital showed fluid in a distended stomach and hiatal hernia, and it was determined she should be watched based on a risk of aspiration — but the lawsuit said doctors did not remove the fluid.
Bill Reagan said his wife was not checked on sufficiently. He said she should have had her head elevated but claims caregivers did not maintain that recommendation.
Just a few hours later, after severe vomiting caused injury to her lungs and brain, she went into cardiac arrest and died.
The lawsuit, filed by attorney Colin King, said caregivers at U. Health did not determine the most likely cause of her symptoms, did not address aspiration risk or keep her head elevated and did not provide adequate supervision.
The legal filing cited an autopsy report saying she died after vomiting due to a bowel obstruction from "extensive abdominal adhesions."
U. Health has not yet responded to the lawsuit. It said in a statement to media on Tuesday that it does not comment on specific patients' cases or ongoing lawsuits.
"As always, the care of our patients is our priority," the statement said.
