Jury Finds Family Doctor Negligent for Phoning In Antibiotics for a Patient Who Died of Myocarditis
After trial: The Appellate Division affirmed on June 4, 2013, rejecting both sides' cross-appeals from the denial of JNOV, so the $220,254.79 amended judgment stood. The figure reflects the jury's own allocation of 20 percent of a $1,000,000 total loss to the physician's deviation, plus prejudgment interest.
Matt Koseoglu died on September 12, 2007, of focal myocarditis hours after his family physician authorized an antibiotic by phone without examining him. A New Jersey jury found the physician negligent, valued the loss at $1,000,000 and attributed 20 percent of it to her deviation. The amended judgment of $220,254.79 with prejudgment interest was entered September 23, 2011, and the Appellate Division affirmed.
What happened
Matt Koseoglu became ill on September 9, 2007, with fatigue and a fever. By September 12 his temperature had reached 103.6 degrees, he had white spots on his throat, and he had no appetite. His wife, Ozlem Koseoglu, called the family's physician, Dr. Ann Wry, and left a voicemail describing his symptoms.
A secretary returned the call around 12:30 p.m. Mrs. Koseoglu said she was told that Dr. Wry had pulled his file, that because he had similar symptoms the previous January she would prescribe antibiotics, and that the office had no opening that day. Mrs. Koseoglu asked to speak with the doctor and was told she was with patients. The chart recorded an authorization for Augmentin but no note of the call or of her husband's symptoms. Nobody examined him.
He felt better for a few hours that afternoon, picked up his children from school and stopped at the pharmacy. By 4:00 or 4:30 he was pale and weak. He ate some soup, took the Augmentin and went to sleep around 6:00 p.m. When his wife checked on him at 8:30 his feet and lips were blotchy and blue and he was unresponsive. She began CPR and called 9-1-1, but he was pronounced dead at Saint Joseph's Hospital. The autopsy found cardiac arrhythmia due to focal myocarditis, an inflammation confined to a small area of the right ventricle.
Mrs. Koseoglu sued as administratrix of his estate. John B. Collins of Bongiovanni, Collins & Warden, P.C. represented her on the appeal. The case was tried before Judge Rachelle L. Harz in Superior Court. The defense was substantial. Dr. Wry's office said patients who called with a fever were offered same-day or next-day visits, and three defense experts testified that an examination, an EKG and blood work would likely have shown nothing, because the inflammation was so limited. Even the plaintiff's experts agreed that myocarditis is often silent and hard to diagnose.
The jury found that Dr. Wry deviated from accepted standards of practice and that her deviation increased the risk of harm from his existing condition. It valued the total loss at $1,000,000, divided between the widow and the children, and allocated 80 percent to the pre-existing myocarditis and 20 percent to the doctor's deviation. A survivorship claim was dismissed at the close of the evidence. On September 23, 2011, Judge Harz entered an amended judgment of $220,254.79, including prejudgment interest.
Both sides moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. Mrs. Koseoglu argued that the 80 percent allocation was unsupported; Dr. Wry argued that causation was never proved and that the plaintiff's experts were not qualified to give it. Judge Harz denied both motions. The Appellate Division affirmed in 2013, holding that the plaintiff's experts gave the jury enough to find an increased risk and that the defense experts' detailed testimony supported the apportionment.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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