Case Verdicts and Results
Doctor should
have ruled out cardiac ailment.
Patient presented pain above the navel, later suffered
cardiac arrest.
$2.5 million verdict
Spencer Farris was part of a three
lawyer team that earned a $2.5 million
verdict in a medical malpractice case
in St. Louis in January, 2006.
A man who suffered a heart attack
after being sent home by his doctor
has won his St. Louis Medical Malpractice
case.
Plaintiff Frank Thompson had ongoing
epigastric pain for four months and
went to Defendant Dr. Anthony Mattaline
with his complaints. Mattaline’s office
recorded pain above the navel, and
sent Thompson home with a hernia diagnosis.
The next day, while at a wedding,
Thompson had massive chest and epigastric
pain and went to the hospital. He went
into cardiac arrest en route to the
hospital, and suffered massive heart
and brain damage.
Epigastric pain is pain in the area
of the bottom of the sternum. There
are many possible diagnoses for such
pain, but a cardiac ailment is the
most dangerous and lifethreatening.
According to Thompson’s expert, a possible
cardiac ailment should be addressed
first because of the risk presented.
Because of the heart damage, Thompson
is unable to endure prolonged physical
exertion. He can walk for about 20
minutes before he is exhausted. He
also has difficulty speaking because
of his limited heart function and brain
injury.
Thompson’s brain injury forced him
to end his job, and he has no short
term memory. Thompson doesn’t remember
any of the weeks preceding or following
the heart attack, including the visit
with Mattaline.
He had worked as a manager of fiscal
services for St. Louis County Health
department prior to the injury, but
was unable to return to work after
the injury.
Thompson alleged Mattaline failed
to appreciate and evaluate his heart
condition, or refer him for an evaluation.
Thompson also asserted Mattaline failed
to properly record the complaints and
symptoms.
Mattaline argued that based on Thompson’s
navel pain, there was no need to do
any cardiac evaluation. However, Mattaline
and the experts in the case agreed
that if Thompson had epigastric pain,
a cardiac evaluation was required.
After a five-day trial, the jury returned
a $2.5 million verdict in favor of
Thompson.
Jury
awards $1.2 million after woman died
from a perforated ulcer.
Two doctors allegedly missed an ulcer
visible in a CT Scan.
$1.2 million verdict
The doctors who failed to detect a
woman’s ulcer that was visible in a
CT Scan were hit with a $1.2 million
verdict in a wrongful death case.
To win the big verdict in rural Scott
County, David M. Zevan and Spencer
E. Farris, the St. Louis lawyers who
handled the case, adopted an unusual
approach at trial.
"There was nothing textbook about
this case," said Farris. "Because of
time constraints and scheduling problems,
witnesses didn’t appear chronologically."
The doctor’s expert testified near
the very beginning of the plaintiff’s
case and the plaintiff’s expert testified
during the defense portion of the case.
"The conventional wisdom is that
there is no way you should let a defense
expert testify in your case. And most
cases begin with the Plaintiff’s expert,"
said Farris. But this case was different,
he said. "We had good admissions from
the defense expert in this case."
On April 5, 2002, Ruthie Lacey, 57,
went to see Dr. James D. Merritt for
her severe stomach pain. Merritt, a
physician in Essex, Mo., sent Lacey
to Missouri Southern Healthcare hospital
for a CT Scan. The CT Scan was taken
at Missouri Southern, located in Dexter,
Mo., but it was read remotely by Dr.
W.J. Stoecker, a Cape Girardeau physician
with Cape Radiology Group.
When Dr. Stoecker read Lacey’s CT
Scan, he missed the free air visible
on the scan, but saw fluid which he
decided might be recurrent cervical
cancer, a condition Lacey had previously
battled. Stoecker alleged that he called
Merritt to report the fluid, but Merritt
was not in his office. Neither Stoecker
nor Merritt told Lacey of the findings.
In addition, Stoecker alleged that
he told the hospital that Lacey might
show up there. Lacey went home from
the hospital and waited to hear from
her doctors, but never did.
The next day, in even greater pain,
Lacey returned to Merritt’s office.
He was nowhere to be found, so she
went to the hospital emergency room.
This time, her ulcer was discovered.
Unfortunately, it was perforated. Digestive
juices and food were entering her abdominal
cavity through a hole burned in the
wall of her stomach.
On April 7, 2002 - two days after
she first complained of stomach pain
- Lacey underwent emergency surgery.
She died that following day.
Ruthie Lacey’s daughter, Susan Coleman,
filed a wrongful death suit in St.
Louis City Circuit Court in September
2002. The suit was subsequently transferred
to Scott County. Coleman alleged that
Merritt and Stoecker were negligent
when they failed to properly diagnose
the ulcer that was visible on the CT
Scan. She also named Missouri Southern
Healthcare and Cape Radiology as defendants
but later dismissed her claims against
them.
Stoecker denied the allegations. He
claimed that the radiological miss
did not amount to malpractice and that
Lacey would not have survived even
if the ulcer was diagnosed on April
5.
Merritt did not file an answer nor
did he respond to discovery requests.
Scott County Circuit Judge David Dolan
entered a protective order that prevented
Merritt from testifying at trial. Merritt
did not appear at trial.
The defendants did not make a settlement
offer in the case. The four-day trial
began on Friday, March 16 and ended
the following Wednesday. In addition
to putting the defense expert on early
in the plaintiff’s case, the plaintiff
also introduced the testimony of another
expert who had originally been endorsed
by the defendant. That expert was dropped
from the defense’s expert roster list
after he admitted that Lacey had a
very high probability of survival if
a prompt diagnosis had been made.
At the time of her death, Lacey was
on disability due to her bout with
cervical cancer. There were no lost
wages or economic damages. The plaintiff
introduced Lacey’s funeral bills into
evidence, despite the oft-cited fear
that the relatively small funeral expenses
will depress the overall verdict amount.
Once again, the approach adopted by
the plaintiff’s lawyers turned out
to be the right one. On March 21, the
jury awarded Lacey’s daughter $600,000
in past damages and $600,000 in future
damages. Half of the liability was
apportioned to Stoecker and the other
half to Merritt.
Susan Coleman, as surviving heir of
decedent Ruthie Lacey,
The Estate of Ruthie Lacey
v.
James D. Merritt, M.D. and W.J. Stoecker,
M.D.
Circuit Court of the County of Scott
State of Missouri
Cause No. 03CV744968
|
