A harrowing tale of alleged medical negligence has emerged from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. On July 22, 2024, Donald and Therese Bihler filed a complaint in the Court of Common Pleas against several healthcare providers, including two doctors and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). The lawsuit alleges severe lapses in medical care that resulted in significant harm to Mr. Bihler.
The plaintiffs, represented by Harry S. Cohen & Associates, P.C., accuse Dr. Shirley A. Shuppe and Dr. Kevin Joseph Sabotchick, both emergency medicine specialists at UPMC Hamot, along with UPMC Hamot itself, University of Pittsburgh Physicians (UPP), and UPMC, of professional negligence. According to the complaint, on August 3, 2022, Mr. Bihler visited the emergency department at UPMC Hamot with symptoms including right arm pain following shoulder surgery, shortness of breath, and chest pain. Despite these alarming symptoms and an abnormal electrocardiogram indicating potential cardiac issues and sepsis risk factors such as elevated D-dimer levels and positive blood cultures for Staphylococcus aureus, he was discharged without appropriate follow-up or admission.
The complaint details how Dr. Shuppe allegedly failed to admit Mr. Bihler for emergency cardiac care or initiate broad-spectrum IV antibiotics despite clear signs of sepsis. Furthermore, it is claimed that Dr. Sabotchick compounded this negligence by instructing staff to wait for final culture results before contacting Mr. Bihler about his positive blood cultures—a delay that proved critical.
Plaintiffs assert that these failures led to Mr. Bihler developing septic shock among other severe complications such as acute kidney injury requiring dialysis, ventilator-induced pneumonia, and multiple hospitalizations totaling over 75 days initially with prolonged rehabilitation thereafter.
Mrs. Therese Bihler also claims loss of consortium due to her husband's condition deteriorating significantly because of the alleged negligence.
The plaintiffs seek judgment against all defendants jointly and severally for an amount exceeding the jurisdictional limits of compulsory arbitration plus costs and interest.
Representing the plaintiffs are attorneys Harry S. Cohen, Todd D. Bowlus, and Caitlin M. Harrington from Harry S. Cohen & Associates P.C., while Judge presiding over this case is yet to be named under Case No.: GD-24-XXXXXX.