Woman files medical malpractice complaint

A woman who nearly died after she was allegedly diagnosed by two doctors with food poisoning when in fact she had appendicitis, has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Anna Leah P. Castillon sued the Commonwealth Health Center, Department of Public Health and Environmental Services, PacifiCare Health Insurance Co. of Micronesia Inc., and Doctors Shireen Alam and Robert George, for negligence.

Castillon’s husband, Patrick Castillon, also joined in the lawsuit as a counterclaimant.

The Castillon couple, through counsel Eric D. Bozman, asked the Superior Court to order the defendants to pay them damages for past and future medical expenses, mental anguish and physical suffering.

It was the DPHES who first sued Anna for allegedly not returning X-ray images belonging to CHC.

Bozman stated in the counterclaim that on Dec. 25, 2004, Anna, 33, went to the emergency room at CHC due to abdominal pain. Bozman said Anna was a member of a health plan provided by PacifiCare so a doctor from PacifiCare saw her at CHC.

At CHC, Anna was treated by another PacifiCare doctor, Dr. Alam. Dr. Alam consulted with Dr. George, who is alleged to be an employee of CHC, the lawyer said.

Drs. Alam and George, he said, diagnosed Anna as suffering from food poisoning and failed to take into account her negative urine, blood and stool cultures in their diagnosis.

Four days after Anna’s admission, a CT scan or ultra sound was performed. Alam and George misread the CT scan and failed to diagnose an infectious focus, Bozman said.

He said his client was treated with enemas and laxatives and painkillers including morphine upon her arrival at the emergency room and throughout her stay at CHC.

By the third day of her admission, her stomach started to bloat. She remained in extreme pain.

Bozman said the two doctors misread or failed to read the radiology tests supporting a diagnosis that Anna was suffering from something other than gastroenteritis.

Anna’s condition did not resolve. She remained confined at the hospital in severe distress until Dec. 30, 2004.

Patrick requested that Anna be transferred to Manila.

Over the objections of George and Alam, she was transferred to St. Luke’s Hospital in the Philippines.

St. Luke’s Hospital recognized Anna’s appendicitis and had her transferred to the operating room roughly three hours after her arrival.

St. Luke’s Hospital performed emergency surgery as the ruptured appendix had caused a life threatening condition. But for the surgery performed by St. Luke’s, Anna would have likely died, Bozman said.

He said due to the delayed surgery, Anna’s intestines had to be repositioned because they were already sticking to each other due to the ruptured infectious explosion caused by the untreated appendicitis.

Bozman asserted that CHC and PacifiCare are liable for the negligence of the two doctors as it occurred within the scope of services by them to CHC and PacifiCare.