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 Bill
Drury, Mike Wolver win defense verdict in wrongful
death/medical malpractice trial
Plaintiff sought $6 million
in 10-day trial
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Adapted
from the December 12, 2007, issue of The Voice, an online
publication of the Defense Research Institute
In a
recent trial in Maricopa County Superior Court,
Bill Drury and
Mike Wolver successfully
defended Hacienda, Inc., in the matter of Irene Tan v.
Hacienda, Inc. This was a wrongful death case. In addition
to alleging medical malpractice, the plaintiff alleged
negligent training and supervision, and negligence per se for
a claimed violation of the Arizona Administrative Code. The
plaintiff sought compensatory and punitive damages.
The
decedent, a 20-month-old boy, was born prematurely and placed
on a ventilator, then underwent tracheotomy surgery. He was
breathing through a tracheotomy tube at the time of his death.
A respiratory technician at Hacienda, working under a
temporary license, was performing a scheduled replacement of
the Velcro ties that secured decedent’s tracheotomy tube when
the tube came out. Despite quick reinsertion of the tube, the
decedent went into pulmonary hypertensive crisis and died.
The
plaintiff specifically alleged that Hacienda was negligent for
not properly training or supervising a respiratory therapist
with a temporary license. She alleged that this lack of
supervision violated the Arizona Administrative Code. She
further alleged that the respiratory therapist was negligent
for not following the proper procedure for performing a trach
tie change. The plaintiff also alleged that Hacienda’s records
were falsified to cover up the negligence of the respiratory
therapist.
The
defendant argued that both the respiratory therapist and
Hacienda met the standard of care, and that a subclinical
condition suffered by the decedent, which would not have been
known to the defendant, was the true cause of his death.
Further, because of the subclinical condition, the likelihood
of his death was imminent.
The plaintiff asked for $6 million dollars at trial. After ten
days of trial, the jury absolved the defendant of any
wrongdoing.
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