JOHNSTOWN — After a two-day trial and a surprise ruling by a judge that decided a portion of the case, a federal jury ordered Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center and Dr. John Chan to pay a Texas couple more than $47 million in damages for treatment that resulted in their daughter’s disfigurement.
In the courtroom, parents Ian Harker and Corradina Baldacchino were emotional as U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson read the jury's lengthy decision.
Lawyers for the family believe the award was the highest amount ever granted in a U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania.
In an interview with 6 News, the family's lawyer, Dominic Guerrini, said he thought the amount was fair.
"When we talked about the conduct, it was just so obviously negligent and something that no jury, and frankly no community member, would want in their hospital," Guerrini said.
Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center did not answer a number of questions from 6 News Thursday afternoon, but sent the following statement:
We respect the process undertaken by the court and jury. At this time, we are evaluating the verdict to consider our legal options and cannot offer additional perspective. Regardless of this matter, Conemaugh Health System stands firm in our commitment to providing quality care to our patients and community.In his closing arguments, Guerrini told the jury that they had an important job.
“You have the ability to do something special,” he told them. “You have the ability to right this wrong.”
Defense attorney Michael Sosnowski told the jury that he hoped they would return a fair verdict, but one that didn’t go over the top.
“You can give money for these types of claims, (but) what you cannot do is buy back an unscarred skull, the need for no medical procedures (or) a perfect head of hair,” he told the jury. “You can’t buy those. It can’t be done.”
The case centered around treatment of a newborn, who is now 5 years old, received at the end of December 2012.
Baldacchino and Parker were visiting family in the area when she gave birth prematurely at Conemaugh after her water broke on Christmas Eve.
When her baby was born, she appeared to have a cephahlohematoma on the side of her head, which is a kind of internal bleed that can sometimes happen after birth, experts testified in court.
The baby was transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit and treated by Dr. Chan, who diagnosed her with a different kind of internal bleeding: a subgaleal hemorrhage.
But medical records presented in court showed that Chan made that diagnosis even though test results showed a cephalohematoma.
In court, expert witness Victoria Niklas said that Chan treated the baby not only for a subgaleal hemorrhage that didn’t exist, but also that he used a treatment that was not right for either of the types of bleed: an Ace bandage wrap.
Chan said he learned the treatment while at medical schooling in the Philippines, but he couldn’t point to any medical literature that suggested it. He also testified that it is not the typical treatment in the U.S.
The Ace bandage wrapping caused the baby’s head to deform as it swelled from the cephalohematoma. Nurses who were ordered to keep the wrapping on noted in medical records that the baby was clearly uncomfortable, in pain and bruising and bleeding, but the wrapping wasn't taken off for days.
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