Insurer must pay $13.6M after hospital death

Hospital settles medical malpractice suits with two families for $5M

The Times Leader - Wilkes-Barre, PA

By DAVID WEISS

WILKES-BARRE - Testimony in a medical malpractice trial ceased Friday morning after attorneys said they will try to negotiate a settlement in the case during the weekend.

The halt came about an hour into the third day of testimony in Dorothy Thornton's lawsuit against Mercy Hospital and two doctors. Thornton filed suit on behalf of her 72-year-old husband, Frank Thornton.

He died in September 2000, several weeks after doctors placed him on a ventilator before surgery. Doctors Esther McKenzie and Walter Boris placed the ventilator breathing tube down his esophagus instead of his windpipe, the suit says. That forced his body to go without oxygen for six to 10 minutes, leading to the brain damage and death, said Joe Quinn, the estate's attorney. Doctors also missed signs that the tube was misplaced, including a swollen abdomen and dropped heart rate, Quinn said.

The hospital also failed to tell Thornton's family about the incident and the error, ignoring a patient's right to know, Quinn has argued.

The attorney was in the middle of questioning Dr. Richard Fischbein on Friday when hospital attorney Larry Durkin asked to meet with the parties and Court of Common Pleas Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr.

After a brief recess, Quinn asked Olszewski to stop the trial until Monday because attorneys wanted to negotiate a possible settlement.

Olszewski informed the jury of the "unusual" occurrence and ordered the parties and jury to reconvene at 8:15 a.m. Monday.