A State College woman filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing Mount Nittany Health of negligence in the death of her 24-year-old son last year.
Misty Dickson alleges her son Kaleb Barth failed to receive proper care and follow-up, despite experiencing worsening symptoms when he was discharged from the Mount Nittany Medical Center Emergency Department on Feb. 24, 2025. Barth died five days later from what a medical examiner determined to be a pulmonary embolism.
A spokesperson said on Wednesday that Mount Nittany Health does not comment on pending litigation.
“At Mount Nittany Health, the safety and well-being of everyone on our campuses—patients, visitors, staff and partners—remains a top priority,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.
Barth told emergency department staff that he had been experiencing numbness in his fingers and toes and foot pain for about a month, as well as intermittent dizziness and lightheadedness. He reported that he smoked daily and had a history of alcohol abuse, according to the 88-page lawsuit.
An emergency department doctor noted Barth’s symptoms and that he showed signs of dehydration, low potassium and liver elevations. The doctor found that a chest X-ray, CT head scan, EKG and blood work showed no current “life-threatening abnormalities,” according to the filing.
Though a nurse expressed concerns about Barth’s “increasingly abnormal vital signs,” including high blood pressure and heart rate, the doctor discharged him after about six hours in the ER, Dickson’s attorney, Derek Layser, wrote. His discharge instructions included an appointment with a primary care provider more than a month later.
Barth was found dead in his apartment on March 1, 2025.
The lawsuit contends that had standards of care been followed, Barth would have been admitted for observation and further testing, during which a deep vein thrombosis would have been diagnosed and the pulmonary embolism prevented or treated.
“Kaleb Barth failed to receive proper work-up, evaluation, diagnosis, management, intervention and treatment, was exposed to an increased risk of harm, and was caused to needlessly suffer catastrophic injuries and death,” Layser wrote.
The 13-count lawsuit against Mount Nittany Health and related defendants alleges negligence and wrongful death. Dickson is seeking damages in excess of $50,000 for each count.
Barth was a 2019 graduate of State College Area High School and was highly involved with the local hockey community. He was attending South Hills School of Business and Technology, where he was expected to graduate with an associate’s degree in engineering technology last May, with plans to pursue a career in architectural engineering and design, according to his obituary.
