Personal Injury Litigation

Pennsylvania - New Jersey - New York - Nationwide

By Mary P. Gallagher

May v. Turner at al.: An Atlantic County jury on Oct. 30 assessed three doctors nearly $5.8 million for medical malpractice that led to a woman's death of malaria.

In September 1995, Joyce May, a housekeeping supervisor for Sands Casino, asked Atlantic City general practitioner, Reginal Tinner, for medication to prevent malaria on her planned trip to Ghana.

After consulting with a pharmacist and checking the Physician's Desk Reference, Tinner prescribed chloroquine, apparently failing to notice that the strain of malaria in Ghana is chloroquine-resistant, according to Robert Ross, who represented Sandra May, the dead woman's daughter and administrator.

May returned from Africa suffering fever, headache, vomiting and general malaise, according to Ross, an attorney with Cherry Hill's Kline & Specter. On Dec. 4, 1995, about a week after her return, she went to Atlantic City Medical Center with a 102.4-degree fever. She told Dr. Ralph Skowron that she had just returned from West Africa and had been taking chloroquine as a prophylactic.

Skowron assumed that May was suffering side effects from chloroquine, which are similar to those of malaria. He called Austin Gerber, May's general practitioner, and informed him of May's symptoms and his belief that they were caused by chloroquine toxicity, while acknowledging that May could be in the early stages of malaria. Ross says, Gerber agreed and Skowron and May was discharged, after being given ibuprofen.

On Dec. 7, May saw Gerber. She had no fever. Gerber diagnosed and treated her for traveler's diarrhea. Twelve to 14 hours later, May was found at home in a coma by a friend. She was rushed back to the medical center, where a blood smear indicated malaria, then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital where she remained in a coma until late December. She emerged cognitively impaired and unable to move her arms and legs, and remained in intensive care until she died on March 20, 1996, at age 58. During her last few months, she developed Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and suffered several respiratory arrests.

During the trial which started on Oct. 12 before Superior Court Judge John Himmelberger, Ross presented the expert testimony of Kevin Ferentz, a family practitioner from Baltimore; Diane Sixsmith, an emergency room expert and internist from New York City; Herbert Tanowitz, a parasitologist and infectious disease specialist from New York City; and Robert Nobel, a physiatrist from Readington.

The jury's deliberations began on Oct. 26 and took about five hours.

Of the total award, $5 million was for noneconomic losses, including disability, impairment, pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment. The jury also awarded $670, 689 for medical expenses and $100,000 for the economic losses of May's three adult children Sandra May, Renee Nobel and Malcolm May Jr., none of whom lived with their mother.

Liability was apportioned 15 percent to Tinner, 50 percent to Skowron and 35 percent to Gerber. Based on expert testimony that treatment of May on Dec. 4 would have given her slightly less than a 100 percent chance of surviving without impairment, the jury reduced Skowron's and Gerber's fault by 1 percent each.

Princeton Insurance company was the carrier for Tinner and Skowron, who were represented, respectively by Dominic DeLaurentis, a partner with Marlton's Dugi & Hewit.

Gerber's insurer was Medical Insurance Exchange of Lawrenceville. His attorney was Donald Grasso, a partner with Orlovsky Grasso & Bolger in Tom's River. None of the defense attorneys returned calls seeking comment.

Ross was assisted by Jonathan Cohen, also of Kline & Specter.

—By Mary P. Gallagher