A local jury has awarded $13,797 in damages to a school pastor who had sued the Commonwealth Health Center and two of its former doctors for misdiagnosing a fractured ankle as a sprain.
In a verdict reached Thursday late afternoon, the jurors awarded Grace Christian pastor Alvin Owens $22,995 in damages for past non-economic loss, including physical and mental pain and suffering.
The jurors, however, agreed that Owen's negligence was also a substantial factor in causing his harm.
The jurors assigned 60 percent of negligent responsibility to the Commonwealth and 40 percent to Owens. This would reduce CHC's liability to the pastor in the amount of $13,797.
The jurors determined that Owens would have had a substantial chance for a better recovery if the fracture had been diagnosed and treated in a timely manner under the applicable standard care and had Dr. Bernedette Saccamanno provided Owens with proper discharge instructions.
But the jurors also found Owens' negligent when he failed to return to CHC or seek other medical assistance within a reasonable period of time after his treatment on March 7, 2004.
Owens and the government have stipulated that CHC was negligent when it came to the conduct of Drs. Saccamanno and J. David Southcott.
Superior Court associate judge David Wiseman, who presided over the jury trial, determined that CHC was negligent when it failed to have Owen's X-rays reviewed by a radiologist within 24 hours.
Attorney David Banes, lead counsel for Owens, told Saipan Tribune yesterday that it was an important case because to his knowledge it was the first medical malpractice trial in the Commonwealth history.
“The jury found that CHC did act negligently.did commit medical malpractice,” said Banes, who was assisted by co-counsel George L. Hasselback in the trial.
As for Owens' negligence, Banes explained that the plaintiff waited six weeks to get a second opinion. This was what prompted the jury to find him partially negligent.
Owens filed the lawsuit against CHC, Dr. Saccamanno, an unnamed supervisor, a radiology employee, an insurance company, and five other persons in 2004. He later amended the complaint, naming only CHC and Drs. Saccamanno and Southcott as defendants.
Owens asked the court to order the defendants to pay him damages for physical and mental pain, anguish, lost earnings, medical expenses, and loss of enjoyment of life.
The complaint stated that on March 6, 2004 Owens had an accident on a moped. He sought treatment at CHC’s emergency room the following day as his ankle was bothering him. He was seen by Saccamanno.
Saccamano ordered an X-ray of the ankle and diagnosed his injury as a sprain, the complaint alleged. Saccamanno instructed Owens to rest for a while, take an aspirin, and that it was okay to walk on the ankle.
Owens followed the advice. However, the swelling never completely subsided and the pain persisted.
Four weeks after the visit at the emergency room, a radiology employee at CHC examined the X-ray and concluded that the problem on Owens' ankle had been misdiagnosed. The complaint said Owens was never notified of the misdiagnosis and he continued to experience pain and swelling.
In April 2004, Owens went to the Pacific Medical Center to get his ankle re-examined by a second doctor. After taking an X-ray, the PMC doctor told Owens that his injury was not a sprain but a fracture. The patient was then referred to an orthopedic specialist working at CHC.
The orthopedic specialist explained that if Owens' injuries had been properly diagnosed as a fracture, only a cast would have been needed. However, because of the misdiagnosis, the fracture had become displaced to the point where a surgical operation was now necessary to remedy the situation.
The complaint alleged that Owens delivered a grievance letter to the office of the hospital administrator, but there was no response.
On May 12, 2004, the orthopedic specialist performed the operation on Owens’s ankle and a portion of the bone was removed.
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