Jury sides with hospital after patient’s death

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A St. Louis County jury rejected a medical-malpractice claim by the family of a man who died following his admission to Mercy Hospital for atrial fibrillation.

The jury deliberated for about two hours following a seven-day trial in July. The surviving spouse and adult daughter of Donald Wilson sued Mercy’s owner after Donald Wilson of O’Fallon, who was in his late 50s, died 12 days after he was admitted to the hospital with complaints of chest pain and a rapid heartbeat.

A left-heart catherization and coronary angiogram were performed the day after his admission. His condition worsened during the next two days; decreased blood pressure and shortness of breath led to respiratory distress and then failure that, in turn, led to cardiac arrest and an anoxic brain injury, said St. Louis plaintiff’s attorney Theresa Appelbaum. Wilson died on Jan. 17, 2017.

Defense attorney Halle Dimar of Brown & James credited the testimony of expert witness Dr. Martin Tobin for making a difference with jurors. The defense argued that Wilson’s death was not the result of negligence but rather attributable to a pre-existing heart condition along with the presence of other risk factors.

“That certainly did play into it,” she said.

The plaintiffs had argued that Mercy’s medical staff failed to promptly prescribe vasosuppessors that could have raised Wilson’s pressure, didn’t intubate him quickly enough and neglected to summon attending physicians sooner rather than rely on a medical resident who was supervising the intensive care unit.

“He just kept sinking further and further,” Appelbaum said of her client’s worsening condition while hospitalized.

Appelbaum noted that the decedent as well as his wife were ABB Power employees who survived a 2010 workplace shooting in which three people died and five others were injured.

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