John Penhallegon Received a Defense Verdict in the Circuit Court for Wicomico County, Maryland

IADC Board Member John R. Penhallegon recently received a defense verdict for his clients after a week long jury trial in the Circuit Court for Wicomico County, Maryland. The case involved a 26 year old woman referred to the defendant pulmonologist for evaluation of an abnormal chest x-ray revealing a mass in the right lung. No biopsy or other tissue diagnosis was recommended, primarily because of the patient’s young age and recent pneumonia. Ten months later, the patient was diagnosed with Stage 4 mestastic adenocarcinoma in the pelvis and brain from a primary lung source. She died at age 27. Survivors included her husband and 3 young children.

Plaintiffs’ experts claimed that the standard of care required the defendants to rule out a primary lung malignancy with tissue diagnosis, either biopsy or surgical resection. Plaintiffs’ claimed that had the standard of care been met a diagnosis of primary adenocarcinoma would have been made before any metastasis with an 85% or better chance of cure. Defense experts countered that the standard of care did not require tissue diagnosis, it was reasonable to believe the mass was likely related to recent infection, and with the benefit of the later diagnosis metastasis occurred before the patient’s evaluation by the defendant.

Economic damages totaled approximately $2.8 million. A pre-trial demand was made for the defendants’ policy limits. There was no settlement offer. Plaintiffs’ counsel sought a total damages award from the jury between $5.3 and $12.8 million. In returning a verdict for the defendants, the jury found that the claimed negligence was not a cause of the patient’s injury and death.