Jury sides with health care providers in wrongful death lawsuit

A suburban Kansas City jury has sided with the University of Kansas Hospital and five of its doctors in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a St. Joseph woman who alleged a failure to disclose a lung tumor detected after a 2019 motorcycle accident before she died four years later at age 53.

The Wyandotte County, Kansas, jury deliberated for 4.5 hours over two days at the conclusion of an eight-day trial in early October, also answering a special interrogatory on the issue of statute of limitations, finding the injury was reasonably ascertainable on or before Sept. 5, 2021.

According to the complaint, emergency medical providers at Mosaic Life Care Center in St. Joseph detected a lesion in the right lung of  Cynthia Lynn Clevenger — but when she was transferred that same day to KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, doctors there failed to disclose the suspected malignancy.

Nearly four years later, Clevenger was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer, belatedly learning of the tumor from her Mosaic physicians, the suit states.

At trial, though, “we presented evidence that she was told by both Mosaic and KU,” said defense attorney Jack Logan, including in records provided to the plaintiff as she pursued a medical disability claim. His firm represented the five University of Kansas Hospital Authority physicians as well as Kansas University Physicians, Inc., which was granted a summary judgment dismissal from the case and not a party at trial.

An attorney for Clevenger’s father and husband, who represented the estate, confirmed details of the trial’s outcome but otherwise declined comment.

An earlier suit in Missouri also named the St. Joseph hospital and one of its emergency room physicians but was dismissed, added Logan, who noted that the plaintiffs sought $4.5 million in an initial demand, which was then reduced to $3 million before closing arguments at trial. The final defense offer was $200,000.

RELATED: Click to search for and submit your Verdicts & Settlements

Jury verdict for the defense

Wrongful death

Case Number/Date: WY-2023-CV-000629/Oct. 8, 2025

Court: Wyandotte County, Kansas, District Court

Judge:  District Judge Bill Klapper

Caption: Wendell Ray Harris, as personal representative for the estate of Cynthia Lynn Clevenger, deceased, and Richard D. Garr, individually, as husband and surviving spouse and heir-at-law of Cynthia Lynn Clevenger, deceased, v. The University of Kansas Hospital Authority,  James Howard M.D., Stepheny Berry, M.D., Scott Turner, M.D., Christopher Guidry, M.D., and Steven Glorsky, M.D.

Plaintiff’s attorneys:  Leland Dempsey (lead) and Diane Plantz, Dempsey Kingsland & Osteen, Kansas City

Defendant’s attorneys: Chris Logan (lead) and Jack Logan; Logan Logan & Watson, Prairie Village, Kansas (for Howard., Berry, Turner, Guidry and Glorsky); Wesley Smith and Brenna Lynch; Simpson, Logback, Lynch, Norris, Overland Park, Kansas (for University of Kansas Hospital Authority)

Plaintiff’s experts: Dr. James Calland, Charleston, W.V. (trauma surgeon); Dr. Andrew Maslow, Providence, Rhode Island (anesthesiology) Russell Still, Columbia (legal); Dr. Damian Laber, Tampa, Florida (oncology)

Defendant’s experts: Dr. Mark Hancock, Denver; Gina Kimmey, Chicago (nursing); Dr., Joseph Kleinman, Boca Raton, Florida (radiology); Dr. Grant Bochicchio, St. Louis (trauma surgery