Jury Returns $25 Million Verdict in Med Mal Case Where Ob/Gyn Died

Pennsylvania - New Jersey - New York - Nationwide

By Laurie Stewart
Of the Legal Staff
PHILADELPHIA, FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2001

In late 1994, obstetrician/gynecologist Dr. Suzanne Wester Matteo underwent a routine procedure in the offices of Dr. Jerome Check and Ahmed Nazari that she believed would help her and her husband, Dr. Tony Matteo, have children.

Two weeks later, she was dead, allegedly as a result of an inappropriately administered pre-operative treatment, according to plaintiff's attorney, Tom Kline of Kline & Specter.

Now a five-men, seven-women Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas jury has agreed with Kline's argument, returning its $25 million verdict early yesterday afternoon after a 13-day trial before Judge Nitza Q. Alejandro.

Check and Nazari were each found 50 percent liable in Suzanne Matteo's death.

While the jury allotted $12.5 million for her wrongful death and $12.5 million for survival damages, Suzanne Matteo's estate will receive between $15 million and $17 million due to a $13 million pretrial settlement with the doctors and various other defendants and, after the verdict, the Medical Liability Catastrophe Loss Fund's contribution.

EGG RETRIEVAL

Suzanne Wester Matteo and Tony Matteo met while residents at Jefferson University. In 1994, they were married and operated their private ob/gyn practice but were without children of their own. After unsuccessfully trying to conceive a child for a year, the couple decided to seek the advice of a fertility doctor and came under the care of Dr. Check, according to Kline.

The Matteos worked with Check who recommended that the couple take steps toward in vitro fertilization. Suzanne Matteo's ovaries were hyperstimulated, allowing an increased number of eggs to mature at the same time. This treatment causes the ovaries, usually the size of a walnut to swell to the size of a lemon.

Prior to the oocyte retrieval, Check diagnosed Suzanne with antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APD), a condition that makes the implantation of embryos in the uterine lining difficult because the uterus is more susceptible to blood clots. Check prescribed heparin and aspirin therapy. The effects of heparin disappear within hours of taking the drug, but aspirin's ability to thin blood can stay in the body for weeks.

On Dec. 29, 1995, Suzanne Matteo underwent the egg retrieval procedure at Check and Nazari's New Jersey office. Nazari performed the retrieval and harvested 18 eggs from Suzanne Matteo's ovaries. Typically, such a procedure yields between eight and 12 eggs.
According to Kline, hospital records show that, prior to surgery, Suzanne Matteo alerted the attending nurse anesthetist that she had undergone the heparin and aspirin treatment.

The procedure was completed at noon. Soon after, a routine ultrasound was performed by a nurse in the New Jersey office, but, according to trial testimony, attending physician Nazari never saw the results of the test after being told that everything appeared normal.

In fact, the ultrasound showed that a large mass of fluid — that turned out to be blood — was forming in Suzanne Matteo's abdomen. Prior to the procedure, Nazari and Check had scheduled IVIG therapy to treat Suzanne Matteo's APD syndrome. So, after the ultrasound, Suzanne Matteo left the New Jersey office with her husband for the defendants' Pennsylvania office for the treatment.

Registered nurse Nina Kaplan began administering the therapy at 3:30 p.m. Approximately an hour later, Suzanne Matteo complained of lightheadedness and, according to Kaplan, became pale. Hospital records show her blood pressure also dropped, and as a result, Kaplan terminated the administration of the therapy. The nurse then repeatedly tried to contact Check, who was overseeing the therapy.

According to Kline, Check did not respond to Kaplan's calls until approximately 1 1/2 hours after Kaplan first called him for assistance. Check found his patient lethargic and hallucinating.

About this time, Tony Matteo was contacted at his office at Holy Redeemer Hospital and was told of his wife's condition. After arriving at her bedside, he decided her condition was severe and transported his wife to Holy Redeemer where he operated on Suzanne Matteo and discovered approximately 75 percent of her blood pooled in her abdomen.

At trial, Tony Matteo testified that he removed "handfuls and handfuls of blood clots" during the procedure. Suzanne Matteo emerged from the surgery in stable condition.

For the remainder of the 29th, and through the 30th, Suzanne Matteo appeared to be recovering. However, her heart stopped in the early-morning hours of Dec. 31, Kline said. She lost consciousness and remained in a coma until her death nine days later.

In the hours just prior to her death, Suzanne Matteo was under the care of registered nurse Elinore Newhall. While Suzanne Matteo's lungs were failing, Newhall made no attempt to summon a physician to Suzanne Matteo's bedside, according to Kline.

PRE-TRIAL SETTLEMENT

Correction: In the story headlined "Jury Returns $25 Million Verdict in Med-Mal Case Where Ob/Gyn Died," In Friday's Legal, the first portion of the $13 million settlement agreement should have been reported as $1 million being paid by nurse Elinore Newhall's insurer, $3 million by Holy Redeemer Hospital and $1 million by the CAT Fund for Holy Redeemer Hospital. No funds were paid by Dr. Tony Matteo, the husband of the decedent.

After Suzanne Matteo's estate filed suit against Check, Nazari, Newhall and the doctors' employers, the defendants joined Tony Matteo as a third-party defendant.

A pre-trial settlement in the amount of $5 million for a joint tortfeasor pro rata release was made with Holy Redeemer Hospital, Newhall and Tony Matteo, with $1 million allotted to the nurse's insurance company, $1 million to the CAT Fund on behalf of Tony Matteo and $3 million to the hospital.

The settlement completely released Tony Matteo as a defendant in the suit. A separate settlement with Check and Nazari's malpractice insurers in the amount of $8 million, bringing the settlement total to $13 million, was made pre-trial, but neither Check nor Nazari were released from the suit. The CAT Fund declined to tenders its limits for Check and Nazari, and the case went to trial.

At trial, defense attorney John J. Snyder of Rawle & Henderson argued that Tony Matteo was the sole cause of Suzanne Matteo's death. Had Tony Matteo taken his wife to an emergency room as opposed to Holy Redeemer Hospital, she would have been treated faster, possibly saving her life, he said. Check and Nazari's attorneys also argued that the fact Tony Matteo operated on his wife showed he reacted with emotion, instead of with skill, during the operation, thus contributing to her death.

Kline, who was assisted at trial by Robert Ross, also of Kline & Specter, countered that Suzanne Matteo was under the care of Check and Nazari for more than five hours while she was bleeding internally, compared to the 15 minutes she was under Tony Matteo's care before he was able stopped the blood flow.

William Wester, Suzanne Matteo's father, testified in response to the defense's argument that Tony Matteo should not have operated on his wife. "If she could be here and speak for herself, she would have wanted Tony Matteo to operate on her. She should not be dead today, but [her death] is not Tony Matteo's fault," Wester said.

The defense also argued that Suzanne and Tony Matteo were both doctors, and therefore were or should have been aware that the aspirin treatment would increase the probability of internal bleeding during the egg retrieval. Because the couple was informed of this risk and still agreed to undergo the procedure, argued Snyder, Check and Nazari were not responsible for the resulting complications.

Kline rebutted that Check and Nazari incorrectly diagnosed Suzanne Matteo with APD, and that the heparin and aspirin treatment was unnecessary to begin with.

"The jury's verdict was a vindication of Tony Matteo who was harshly attacked by the counsel for doctors Check and Nazari. ... It was also a wonderful feeling to see William Wester and Tony Matteo embrace in tears immediately after the jury read their verdict," Kline said.

Snyder did not return calls seeking comment by press time. Kline said he will file a delay damages petition in excess of $6 million,which he would seek from the CAT Fund.

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