Saginaw Jury Finds Doctor Missed Cardiac Warning Signs, Award Capped at About $702,469

Debra Cameron began seeing family physician James V. Bodrie, M.D., in 2007 for high blood pressure and high cholesterol. In November 2008 she came in with a persistent, mostly dry cough. Dr. Bodrie diagnosed sinusitis and reactive airway disease and treated her over six visits with steroids and antibiotics, even as she also reported chest tightness and shortness of breath.

On January 15, 2009, a chest X-ray showed moderate enlargement of her heart. Dr. Bodrie ordered an echocardiogram to be done in ten days. At her last visit, on January 22, he noted shortness of breath on exertion. Three days later, Ms. Cameron, then 56, suffered a massive heart attack. Cardiac catheterization found an 80 percent blockage of the left anterior descending artery.

The heart attack led to angioplasty and a stent, the implantation of a pacemaker and defibrillator, and a later second angioplasty. Ms. Cameron and her husband, Hugh, sued in Saginaw County Circuit Court. Hugh Cameron also claimed loss of consortium.

Robert B. Sickels of Sommers Schwartz, P.C., represented the Camerons. He argued that Dr. Bodrie did not manage her cholesterol properly, did not obtain routine and indicated EKGs, did not arrange an urgent cardiology consultation once the enlarged-heart X-ray was reported, and did not send her to an emergency department when she described breathlessness on exertion. Cardiologist Lloyd Klein, M.D., testified for the plaintiffs that the X-ray and her symptoms showed ischemia from a blockage of more than 70 percent, and that earlier catheterization would have allowed her arteries to be reopened before the heart attack.

Richard J. Suhrheinrich of Kitch Drutchas Wagner Valitutti & Sherbrook defended Dr. Bodrie. The defense said her symptoms did not call for urgent cardiac evaluation, that mildly elevated cholesterol needed no intervention, and that most heart attacks come from plaque rupturing in vessels that are not heavily blocked, which made hers unavoidable. Cardiologist Marc Brodsky, M.D., testified that she had not been having ischemic episodes before the infarction.

The trial lasted about two weeks. After roughly an hour and three-quarters of deliberation, the jury voted 6-2 for the Camerons on April 25, 2014, and awarded $1,612,269. That total included $262,268.86 in medical expenses, with the remainder for past and future non-economic damages.

Michigan caps non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases, and in 2014 the standard limit was $440,200. Her injuries do not fall within the narrow categories that qualify for the higher limit, so the non-economic portion of the award could not stand in full. Added to the medical expenses, the capped amount comes to about $702,469 before interest and costs. The verdict was not appealed.