Erin Achenbach//October 30, 2024//
A jury awarded plaintiffs $1.675 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court.
The suit, filed by plaintiffs Julie Smith and Caleb Pritchett, alleged that decedent Christy Pritchett, 54, suffered complications following ulcer surgery at Mercy Jefferson hospital.
The surgery was performed by Dr. Gregg Ginsburg of Mercy Clinical Surgical Specialists. Ginsburg was represented by Ken Bean, lead attorney, and Michelle Drake, both of Sandberg Phoenix.
The plaintiffs, represented by lead attorney Gonzalo Fernandez of Fernandez Law and Christopher Stokes, are the adult children of Christy Pritchett.
According to the suit, the surgically repaired ulcer began to leak from the patient’s abdominal drain eight days after surgery. On the eighth day, the defendant removed the drain that was placed during the surgery; the decedent’s condition worsened after the removal of the drain.
The defendant’s partner determined that the decedent had bilious peritonitis and needed to be transferred to Barnes Hospital due to the severity of her condition. At Barnes, the decedent underwent several surgeries that found a perforated colon and tissue necrosis in her abdomen. She passed away from multiple organ failure approximately seven weeks later.
The defendant maintained that the decedent did not have a bile leak while under his care, and that the fluid coming from her drain was not a concern.
The plaintiff’s expert, Dr. David Evans, testified that there were several red flags that should have warned the defendant about the possibility of a leak of the repaired ulcer, such as the volume and color of the drainage. Evan’s said the defendant deviated from the standard of care by not acknowledging the possibility of leak and removing the drain. The prolonged exposure to bile and digestive enzymes from the leak causes the necrosis and colon perforation that was found at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and ultimately caused her death.
Meanwhile, the defense experts, Dr. Tim Woods and Dr. David McKinsey, testified that the decedent was a complex patient due to a prior gastric bypass surgery and continued use of 10 Motrin a day after her bypass, and due to her co-morbidities, died through no fault of the defendant. The infectious disease expert testified the decedent’s drainage fluid tested positive for a fungus that can cause the type of necrosis and perforation observed at Barnes. This was supported by one of the Barnes surgeons.
The jury sided with the plaintiff on Sept. 19 after deliberating for approximately two to three hours.
The plaintiff’s attorney said the defense team did “a really good job” raising causation issues in the decedent’s death, and that he was grateful that jury was able to “see through all that.”
“I was satisfied … my clients were satisfied. I think the jury’s verdict reflected the fact that they did not believe the defendant doctor and they thought he honestly should have done more,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez said that the fact that the case was a “simple issue” to understand made it easier for the jury to “wrap their brains around and get.”
“A lot of times in medical malpractice cases you get bogged down in hyper-complicated medical issues, in the minutia of all this other stuff,” Fernandez said. “I think this was one where we were able to show … he (the defendant) bizarrely made this decision to remove the drain despite all these red flags.”
The defendant’s counsel stated they were disappointed in the outcome and plan to file an appeal if their post-trial motion is denied.
“Our only comments are: We were disappointed by the verdict and thought the Operative Note from Barnes-Jewish Hospital foreclosed the position taken by the plaintiff’s expert who we note misread the Operative Note and changed his opinions at trial in several material respects,” Bean stated in an email.
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- Amount of verdict, judgment or settlement: $1.675 million
- Type of action: Medical Malpractice
- Venue: Jefferson County Circuit Court
- Case Number/Date: 22JE-CC00885/9/19/2024
- Judge: Travis Partney
- Plaintiffs’ Expert: Dr. David Evans
This article credit to MOLawyersMedia