ALLENTOWN – A plaintiff whose wife allegedly died from internal bleeding resulting from a surgery at a Bethlehem hospital, is opposing the hospital’s effort to see itself dismissed from the resulting lawsuit.
John Raymond initially filed his complaint Feb. 20 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Named defendants include Amanda Lieberman, the physician assistant who performed the procedure, as well as Dr. Errin Hoffman, Good Shepherd Specialty Hospital and Lehigh Valley Hospital.
According to the complaint, Diane Raymond was diagnosed on March 7, 2018, with excessive fluid between membrane layers surrounding her right lung.
John Raymond alleged medical officials ordered a surgery without informed consent from him or his wife, and Lieberman performed an ultrasound-guided thoracentesis on March 8, during which she “cut, sliced and otherwise damaged Diane Raymond’s liver, veins, arteries and/or other internal organs,” but did not recognize or acknowledge that reality while preparing a report of a successful surgery.
Hoffman reviewed Lieberman’s notes a few hours after the surgery and concurred with her assessment. That afternoon, Diane Raymond was transferred from Good Shepherd to Lehigh Valley Hospital in critical condition. Although doctors recognized the internal bleeding, Raymond she into cardiac arrest and died within an hour.
On May 1, Lieberman and Hoffman filed a motion to dismiss the claims of professional negligence against them, due to certificates of merit not being filed with the original complaint.
“In his complaint, plaintiff alleges, in part, that Dr. Hoffman, ‘failed to possess that degree of skill, care and knowledge and experience ordinarily exercised and possessed by the average qualified physician.’ Similarly, Plaintiff alleges, in part, that Ms. Lieberman, ‘failed to possess that degree of skill, care and knowledge and experience ordinarily exercised and possessed by the average qualified physician assistant,” according to the doctors’ dismissal motion.
“Because plaintiff’s claims against moving defendants are rooted in professional negligence, plaintiff in this case was required to file a certificate of merit in accordance with Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure 1042.3. Despite having filed a document purporting to be an ‘Affidavit of Merit’ with regard to each moving defendant, plaintiff has failed to comply with the requirements of Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure 1042.3.”
The dismissal motion further counters by explaining the plaintiff’s complaints are signed by an expert witness, Craig A. Nachbauer, M.D., a thoracic surgeon who is only Board-certified in that capacity and not in the same medical discipline as defendant Hoffman, radiology.
The hospital filed a motion the very same day to dismiss counts of lack of informed consent/battery, negligent infliction of emotional distress, survival action on behalf of plaintiff, Mr. Raymond, individually, survival action on behalf of the Estate, loss of consortium and all requests for punitive damages.
On June 5, Good Shepherd Specialty Hospital filed an answer to the amended complaint. The answer denied the entirety of allegations made in the case and asserted no less than 23 affirmative defenses.
Among the defenses recommending the case be dismissed were failure to state a cause of action upon which relief can be granted, being barred in whole or in part, by the doctrine of Contributory Negligence, being barred by the provisions of the Pennsylvania Healthcare Services Malpractice Act and being barred by the applicable statute of limitations.
The hospital also mentioned it was improperly sued as “Allentown Specialty Hospital” and sought to correct that information for the record.
UPDATE
On June 12, Raymond’s counsel responded the hospital’s motion to dismiss, denying all of its allegations in their entirety and countering that their client’s claims were in fact well-pled.
“It is denied that plaintiffs ‘have failed to comply with the minimum rules of pleading.’ To the contrary, plaintiffs have gone beyond the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) notice pleading requirements and set forth more than just ‘a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,” the response from Raymond’s counsel states, in part.
“Plaintiffs’ amended complaint clearly and concisely states that defendant Lieberman was negligent in performing a thoracentesis on plaintiffs’ decedent by piercing her liver with a needle which directly caused her death hours later. Moving defendants’ assertion that ‘plaintiffs’ claims are so vague or ambiguous that moving defendants cannot reasonably prepare a response’ and that they need ‘a more definite statement’ is farcical.”
The 21-count complaint seeks compensatory damages and a jury trial.
The plaintiffs are represented by Scott M. Wilhelm of Winegar Wilhelm Glynn & Roemersma, in Phillipsburg, N.J.
The defendants are represented by Gregory S. Nesbitt and Laurie B. Shannon of Kilcoyne & Associates in Blue Bell, plus Howard S. Stevens, Jennifer L. Weed and Samuel Ezra Cohen of Gross McGinley in Allentown and Chilton G. Goebel III, John P. Shusted and Lauren Alexa Green of German Gallagher & Murtaugh, in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 5:20-cv-00959
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com