$2.18 Million Judgment After Jury Verdict for Family of Mother Who Died in Cardiac Catheterization at Mercy
After trial: The trial court cut the jury's $9 million noneconomic award to $350,000 under section 538.210 in December 2013, leaving about $2.18 million. The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed on April 19, 2016, holding the cap valid in wrongful death cases.
Won by Gray Ritter Graham and The Simon Law Firm.
Shannon Dodson, 34, of Maplewood, died in February 2011 after her left main coronary artery was dissected during a cardiac catheterization at Mercy Hospital, with roughly 30 minutes passing before intervention began. A St. Louis County jury awarded her family $10,831,155 in September 2013. The trial court applied Missouri's noneconomic damages cap, leaving about $2.18 million, and the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed in 2016.
What happened
In February 2011, Shannon Dodson, a 34-year-old mother of three from Maplewood, Missouri, went to Mercy Hospital in St. Louis County with breathing difficulties and chest pain. After a stress echocardiogram, cardiologist Dr. Robert Ferrara performed a cardiac catheterization. During the procedure the left main coronary artery, the vessel that supplies most of the heart's blood, was dissected. She died of that injury.
The family's case against Dr. Ferrara, Mercy Hospitals East Community and Mercy Clinic Heart and Vascular rested on what happened after the tear. According to the Missouri Supreme Court's account of the record, about 30 minutes passed before any attempt to restore blood flow began. Several interventions failed, and emergency surgery did not save her. The plaintiffs argued that the delay in treating a known, life-threatening complication was the departure from the standard of care.
The wrongful death case was tried in St. Louis County Circuit Court in Clayton before Judge Thea Sherry. Maurice Graham, Patrick Hagerty, Joan Lockwood and Kaitlin Bridges of Gray, Ritter & Graham represented the family, with John Simon of the Simon Law Firm. Paul Venker of Williams Venker & Sanders defended. In September 2013 the jury returned a verdict of $10,831,155 for the family: $305,737 in past economic damages, $1,525,418 in future economic damages, $1 million in past noneconomic damages and $8 million in future noneconomic damages.
Missouri's medical malpractice statute, section 538.210, caps noneconomic damages. In December 2013 Judge Sherry applied the cap, cutting the $9 million in noneconomic damages to $350,000 and leaving the economic awards untouched. The judgment that stood was about $2.18 million: $305,737 in past economic damages, $1,525,418 in future economic damages and $350,000 for noneconomic loss.
The family appealed, arguing that the cap could not be applied to a wrongful death claim. The Missouri Supreme Court rejected that argument on April 19, 2016, in an opinion by Judge Mary Russell. The court held that wrongful death is a statutory cause of action, not a common law claim, so the constitutional right to a jury trial does not bar the legislature from limiting its damages. It affirmed the reduced judgment, and Dodson v. Ferrara, 491 S.W.3d 542, became the controlling Missouri decision on applying the cap in wrongful death cases.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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