Nancy C. Van Orman and John E. Van Orman v. George Linville and Evergreen Surgical Clinic, a professional corporation and Anonymous Hospital
Published: Nov. 29, 1997 | Result Date: Oct. 27, 1997 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: 962126781 – $2,220,410
Judge
Court
King Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Defendant
Experts
Plaintiff
Lowell Bassett
(technical)
Nancy Torgerson
(medical)
Mary Lynn Panned
(medical)
Rick Braun
(medical)
Anthony J. Choppa
(technical)
Judith Skenazy
(medical)
Jeffrey Pearce
(medical)
Defendant
Dr. Hamilton
(medical)
Dr. Powel
(medical)
Donald Silverman
(medical)
Linda Wray
(medical)
Facts
Plaintiff Nancy Van Orman, a 56-year-old secretary, developed a deep vein thrombosis in her leg and was hospitalized by her physician, defendant George Linville, M.D., for anti-coagulation therapy. The plaintiff was discharged on Coumadin. The doctor wrote an order in the chart for a test to monitor the level on "Tuesday." The defendant doctor meant the first Tuesday after discharge, November 23rd. The nurse who gave plaintiff her discharge instructions wrote Tuesday, November 30th. When the plaintiff did see the doctor, the defendant doctor was surprised she had not had the test and sent her to the hospital. The test results showed she was at abnormally high level. The hospital said they called in the test results and spoke to the doctor, but the doctor claimed he did not get the call. He said if they told his nurse the results, she did not tell him. His nurse said if she got results like that she would have told the doctor. The doctor said he thought plaintiff's family doctor was going to monitor her. On December 4, the plaintiff had a cerebral hemorrhage resulting in organic brain damage. The plaintiff had out-patient physical therapy for approximately five to six months. She lost her job at the school district where she had been a secretary/purchasing-agent-clerk for 23 years and was earning approximately $23,000 per year. The plaintiffs, husband and wife, brought this action against the defendants based on a medical malpractice theory of recovery.
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiff made a settlement demand for $2.2 million. The defendant doctor and clinic offered $1 million to settle in exchange for plaintiff's demand or a covenant and settlement with defendant Linville only for $1 million. The insurance company took the position the case was not worth any more than $1 million and advised plaintiffs they intended to try the case if the offer was not accepted. No further offers or negotiation occurred after that time. The hospital settled for $750,000 before trial.
Specials in Evidence
$40,000 $____________ $____________ $658,000 (disputed)
Injuries
The plaintiff claimed to have suffered emotional instability, personality changes, fatigue, difficulty processing information, slowness in processing information, problems with attention, memory, distractibility and moderate depression. The plaintiff claimed to have a visual field defect in the lower left quadrant of both eyes caused by the brain hemorrhage. She also had problems with executive functioning, according to testing done by the treating neuropsychologist at Evergreen Head Injury Clinic.
Other Information
The verdict was reached approximately three years after the case was filed. Per plaintiff's counsel, liability was admitted and defendants conceded that plaintiff's brain damage was caused by over coagulation from Coumadin.
Deliberation
five hours
Poll
unanimous
Length
16 days
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