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Jury
acquits Geisinger, two doctors in girl's death
BY MICHAEL McNARNEY / STAFF WRITER
A
Lackawanna County jury ruled Friday that two doctors
employed by Geisinger Medical Center in Danville were
not negligent in the sudden death of an 8-year-old patient
from Schuylkill County.
More
than seven years after Megan Shala died, and after enduring
almost six years of litigation and five days of courtroom
testimony -- full of autopsy reports and graphic testimony
about their daughter's final hours -- Patrick F. and
Maureen Shala left the courtroom empty-handed.
"It
was a difficult case for the lawyers and the parties,"
attorney John L. Jenkins, who represented the Shalas
of Lost Creek, said afterwards. "We accept the
verdict."
Patients
and their families have lost 25 of the 28 medical malpractice
cases heard by Lackawanna County juries since 2000,
according to court records.
Megan
Shala died at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville just
before dawn on Aug. 28, 1996. Her parents sued Geisinger
and two doctors who had treated her earlier at Geisinger's
Schuylkill pediatric clinic in Frackville, Bernard C.
Adukaitis and Thomas A. Curry.
Mr.
Jenkins, of Philadelphia, argued that Megan died of
Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a rare disorder caused by
a delayed reaction to an antibiotic.
The
reaction, he argued, triggered a chain of events that
led to internal bleeding, Megan's organs shutting down
and her death 12 hours after her parents brought her
to Geisinger's Danville hospital.
Mr.
Jenkins argued that Dr. Adukaitis should have seen Megan
personally in the days before her death and that Dr.
Curry, who did examine her, should have recognized the
depth of her plight.
Attorney
Mark T. Perry of Scranton, representing Geisinger and
the doctors, argued that Megan died of sepsis, a spread
of toxic bacteria in the body, and that doctors could
not have foreseen the events that led to her death.
During
closing arguments, jurors passed around an 8- by 10-inch
first communion photo of Megan, with her fair skin and
dark hair. The picture was taken a few months before
her death.
They
deliberated for just five hours Friday before returning
their verdict in Judge Terrence R. Nealon's courtroom.
Though
the participants in the suit all lived or worked in
Schuylkill or Montour counties, and all key events took
place there, when the suit was filed in 1998 it could
be brought in any county where the defendants have a
place of business.
The
plaintiffs chose Lackawanna County, where Geisinger
has a handful of clinics.
©Scranton
Times Tribune 2004
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