'Doctor should have seen the signs'

Bernie Mac’s widow is suing the comedian’s long-time doctor over what she claims was his wrongful death.

Rhonda McCullough says that Rene Earles – a dermatologist – did not recognise signs of respiratory failure when Mac visited his clinic a few weeks before his death in August 2008.

She says the doctor kept the 50-year-old comic at his clinic for several hours rather than call an ambulance – and is seeking at least $50,000 in damages.

Earles told the Chicago Sun-Times that Mac didn’t appear in a fit state to undergo his usual treatment to treat lesions on his head, face and neck when he arrived on July 17, 2008.

The doctor says Mac told him he had been given an earlier injection, and believed that the comedian was suffering a poor reaction to that.

He said he called the other doctor, who told him Mac had pneumonia. Earles then gave the comic oxygen and let him sleep for a few hours. He says he then told Mac to go to hospital, and believed that he got his chauffer to take him there after leaving the clinic.

Mac died from complications related to pneumonia on August 9 that year.

Published: 6 Aug 2010