Wright v. St. Mary's Medical Center of Evansville, EV 97-45-C Y/H.

Citation59 F.Supp.2d 794
Decision Date09 June 1999
Docket NumberNo. EV 97-45-C Y/H.,EV 97-45-C Y/H.
CourtUnited States District Courts. 7th Circuit. United States District Court (Southern District of Indiana)
PartiesEmma Carolyn WRIGHT and Jackie Wright, Plaintiffs, v. ST. MARY'S MEDICAL CENTER OF EVANSVILLE, INC., Defendant.

John C. Whitfield, Madisonville, KY, George E. Stigger, Henderson, KY, for plaintiffs.

Robert H. Hahn, Bamberger Foreman Oswald & Hahn, Evansville, IN, for defendant.

MEMORANDUM DECISION

YOUNG, District Judge.

The plaintiffs, Emma Carolyn Wright and Jackie Wright, are individuals residing in Kentucky. The defendant, St. Mary's Medical Center of Evansville, Inc., is an Indiana corporation. The court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332, and this cause is before the court on the defendant's motion for summary judgment.

I. Background

Shiley, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer, Inc. ("Pfizer"), produced thousands of prosthetic Bjork-Shiley convexo/concave ("BSCC") heart valves between 1979 and 1986. The BSCC valve is a "tilting disc valve," in which a carbolitic disc is suspended between an "inlet strut" and an "outlet strut." As the heart beats, the disc tilts into an open position to allow blood to flow through the valve into the adjacent chamber. When the heart slows, the disc returns to a seated position to prevent blood from leaking backwards. Roughly 50,000 of these valves were implanted in patients from all over the world. By 1992, it was estimated that at least 450 BSCC valves had sustained outlet strut fractures, resulting in about 300 deaths.

An outlet strut fracture occurs when the two legs of the outlet strut break off and separate from the "flange" (the ring that encircles the disc of the valve). For a person with a prosthetic heart valve, an outlet strut fracture is catastrophic. When the legs of the strut separate from the flange, the disc escapes from its position and is carried by the bloodstream to other organs in the body. In the absence of a prompt diagnosis and emergency open heart surgery, the consequences are frequently fatal. Sometimes, one leg of the outlet strut separates from the flange, while the other leg remains attached. Following this occurrence — referred to as a "single leg separation" — the disc maintains its position and can function normally for an indefinite length of time. While not dangerous in and of itself, a single leg separation may be a harbinger of the deadly outlet strut fracture.

A class action was initiated against Pfizer in the Southern District of Ohio, wherein it was alleged that the BSCC heart valves were defective. In April 1992, the district judge approved a settlement agreement in the Ohio class action which compensated recipients of BSCC heart valves as follows:

a. A Medical and Psychological Consultation Fund was established to provide claimants with funds to obtain medical and psychological consultation with respect to their heart valves.

b. Settlement class members who undergo valve replacement surgery due to the risk of strut fracture may: 1) receive payment for the expenses of replacement surgery; 2) receive miscellaneous costs and expenses in the sum of $38,000.00; and, 3) receive loss of income up to a maximum of $1,500.00 per week for a specified number of weeks, if the replacement surgery is in compliance with the guidelines established by the Supervisory Panel.

c. A claimant may be entitled to valve replacement surgery benefits in those situations where one leg of the strut of the valve has separated from the flange prior to the surgery, even though the replacement surgery did not qualify under the Supervisory Panel Guidelines.

d. If a class member suffers death or disability resulting from a qualifying valve replacement or sustains a strut fracture which results in death or permanent total disability, the fracture claimant is entitled to compensation of: (i) $500,000, (ii) $100,000 to spouse of the fracture claimant, (iii) $100,000 for each minor child, and (iv) the class member's lost income.

e. If the strut fracture does not result in death or permanent total disability, the fracture claimant is entitled to benefits of: (i) $500,000; (ii) $100,000 to spouse of the fracture claimant; (iii) medical expenses; and (iv) lost wages.

(Taken from defendant's brief in support, pp. 19-21. The plaintiffs do not dispute the existence of these facts in their brief in opposition.) (Footnotes omitted.)

The agreement also created a supervisory panel, consisting primarily of recognized scientific and medical experts, to establish protocols and guidelines for heart valve replacement surgery. Pursuant to the settlement agreement, the Bowling-Pfizer supervisory panel established guidelines to assess patients with BSCC heart valves for

elective explanation. The guidelines were approved by the United States District Court in the Bowling-Pfizer class action. One of the class representatives in the Bowling-Pfizer litigation was Emma Carolyn Wright. Ms. Wright, due to rheumatic mitral valve disease, had a defective mitral heart valve replaced in 1983 by a BSCC prosthetic valve, serial number 31 MBRC 16416. In February 1992, Ms. Wright began experiencing chest pain which radiated into her left arm and neck, associated shortness of breath, numbness on the left side of her face, and dizziness. During the same month, she sustained an embolic inferior wall myocardial infarction of the heart. Over the course of the next year, Ms. Wright suffered from reoccurring chest pains and sought treatment for her condition from Dr. Goyal at Trover Clinic in Madisonville, Kentucky. Believing that Ms. Wright might be experiencing problems with her BSCC valve, Dr. Goyal referred her to cardiovascular surgeon John Ansbro at St. Mary's Medical Center in Evansville, Indiana. Following several consultations and a series of tests, Dr. Ansbro suspected that Ms. Wright's prosthetic mitral valve was malfunctioning, causing the formation of micro-emboli (small blood clots) upon the disc of the BSCC valve which could lead to a heart attack or stroke. He recommended the valve's replacement.

On March 8, 1993, Ms. Wright's attorney wrote Dr. Ansbro and indicated the need to retain the original valve following replacement in order to claim possible benefits

under the Bowling-Pfizer settlement agreement. Dr. Ansbro forwarded that correspondence to St. Mary's pathology department. The laboratory manager, Robert Florini, discussed plaintiffs' counsel's request with the pathology department chairman, Dr. Robertson, to determine what to do with the valve. Dr. Robertson felt it would be best for all parties involved if St. Mary's retained possession of the heart valve. Dr. Robertson suggested that St. Mary's hold the valve until such time as it was to be evaluated by an independent laboratory to determine whether its condition qualified the Wrights for benefits under the Bowling-Pfizer agreement. Mr. Florini contacted Ms. Wright's attorney, who agreed to that proposal.

Ms. Wright's prosthetic mitral valve was removed by Dr. Ansbro on March 19, 1993, at St. Mary's Medical Center. Following surgery, Mr. Florini received a specimen jar with Ms. Wright's name on the label. Mr. Florini placed the jar, plaintiffs' attorney's letter of March 18, 1993, and a copy of the pathology report in a plastic bag with a "do not discard" label. He placed the bag in a locked file cabinet in his office. Mr. Florini left St. Mary's employment in March 1994. On November 15, 1996, the plaintiffs' attorney directed St. Mary's to mail the valve to class counsel in Cincinnati. On November 22, 1996, Margaret A. Birge, an employee of St. Mary's Medical Center, secured a laboratory bottle that she assumed contained the prosthetic heart valve. The container was labeled with Emma Carolyn Wright's name and hospital identification

number. Ms. Birge packaged the container and mailed it. Several days later, St. Mary's was advised by plaintiffs' attorney that the bottle contained only human heart tissue, not the prosthetic heart valve. As a result, pathology department personnel fruitlessly searched St. Mary's storage facilities. According to the parties, the valve remains missing.

On March 24, 1997, the plaintiffs (Emma Wright and her husband, Jackie Wright) brought this action. Count I of the plaintiffs' complaint contends that St Mary's negligently lost Ms. Wright's heart valve. Count II avers that St. Mary's breached a contract to maintain and deliver the valve. Count III asks for punitive damages.

St. Mary's filed a motion for summary judgment as to all three counts, along with accompanying memorandum and exhibits, on October 15, 1998. The Wrights filed a brief in response, along with accompanying exhibits, on November 19, 1998. St Mary's filed a reply brief on December 2, 1998. All in all, before the court are: the parties' briefs; the materials from the Bowling-Pfizer litigation; deposition excerpts from Dr. Ansbro, Mr. Florini, Ms. Wright, Mr. Wright, and Raymond Wayne Smith (the claims administrator for the Bowling-Pfizer settlement fund); the parties' answers to interrogatories; Ms. Wright's medical records; and affidavits from Dr. Alan Marty (an expert witness) and Margaret Birge.

II. Analysis
A. Summary Judgment Standard

A grant of summary judgment is appropriate when the pleadings and other submissions to the court "show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c). To determine whether a genuine issue of material fact exists, a court must construe the facts in a light most favorable to the non-moving party and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of that party. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). However, the mere existence of "some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts" is insufficient to defeat a motion for summary judgment. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd., v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S....

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