CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Ben Novotny delivering his opening statement
Kalispell, MT - A Montana state court jury heard opening statements Monday in a medical malpractice lawsuit alleging that weeks of delay in critically needed brain surgery for a teenager experiencing sudden vision loss led to his eventual permanent blindness, and the proceedings are being webcast gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
Representing plaintiff Brett Camen, 18, attorney Ben Novotny of Trial Lawyers for Justice told jurors he would seek more than $10 million in compensation for blindness that he argued could have been prevented if Camen immediately underwent surgery to install a shunt in his brain to drain accumulating fluid putting pressure on his optic nerve.
Novotny accused Dr. Marcus Wheeler, a pediatric neurologist at Kalispell Regional Medical Center, and Dr. Gus Stein, an ophthalmologist at Glacier Eye Clinic, of not meeting the standard of care for a patient presenting sudden and severe vision loss by supposedly failing to make an immediate emergency referral for surgery while only treating Camen with medications for nearly four weeks after he first began experiencing symptoms.
Attorneys for the hospital and eye clinic, who are the actual named defendants in the case, argued to jurors that Camen’s treatment was both timely and fully consistent with the standard of care, and that the fluid buildup in Camen’s brain was an exceedingly rare condition that didn’t warrant immediate surgery that they suggested had numerous and potentially serious complications.
The full trial is being webcast gavel-to-gavel by CVN, the only news media organization dedicated to video coverage of civil jury trials.
Novotny walked jurors through a timeline that began in mid-December 2017 through mid-January 2018, during which he said Camen became the victim of a “systemic institutional failure” where lack of communication between specialists, delayed appointment scheduling, and failure to recognize the severity of Camen’s deteriorating condition resulted in near total vision loss that Novotny said is permanent.
“There is no happy ending in this case when it comes to Brett’s eyesight,” Novotny said in his opening statement, according to CVN's webcast of the trial. “There is no hope.”
He compared the sudden and severe vision loss Camen began experiencing along with the increased pressure and fluid in his brain that doctors verified with diagnostic tests to an acute medical emergency akin to a heart attack requiring immediate and aggressive medical intervention.
“You don’t wait and hope it’s not a heart attack,” Novotny said, describing how Camen told doctors his head felt like it was going to “explode.”
He characterized the insertion of a brain shunt, which involves snaking a tube from the brain down through the torso into the abdominal cavity, as a brief and relatively common operation performed more than 100 times a day in the United States.
“The shunt is not some big scary procedure,” Novotny told the jury.
Camen could live for at least another 50 years, Novotny said, detailing how he locks himself in his room in the trailer he shares with his mother when he’s alone, not knowing if a knock on the door could come from “someone there to help him, or someone there to hurt him.”
As the trial began amidst a major snowstorm, Novotny told jurors that ice was like “landmines” for Camen and detailed the daily struggles someone with 98 percent vision loss endures, and that Camen would contend with for the rest of his life.
Representing Kalispell Regional Medical Center, Kevin Kuhn of Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell LLP told jurors that while increased cranial pressure and fluid buildup is relatively common, the type of “fulminant” or potentially dangerous buildup Camen experienced only occurs in between one in one million and one in three million people.
He focused much of his opening statement on detailing the shunt procedure, telling jurors brain shunts have a failure rate in patients like Camen of between 46 and 86 percent.
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Kevin Kuhn delivering his opening statement
Kuhn argued that besides the risks associate with any major surgery such as reactions to general anesthesia, that shunt surgery in particular could cause complications like strokes or infections that themselves could cause permanent and severe brain damage. It’s also a permanent procedure, and Kuhn argued Dr. Wheeler was reasonably hesitant to hastily suggest the insertion of a tube into a teenager’s brain that he would have to live with for the rest of his life.
Kuhn told jurors that Camen’s medical records showed his initial treatment with medication caused some improvement in his condition, which he argued justified the decision not to proceed immediately to the shunt surgery.
“Dr. Wheeler wants to do everything in his power to see if the medication can work first,” he said.
Representing Glacier Eye Clinic, Sean Giocoechea of Moore Cockrell Goicoechea Johnson P.C. focused his opening statement on the fact Dr. Stein was only extensively involved in Camen’s care for seven days in January, after he could have already suffered permanent vision damage.
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Sean Giocoechea delivering his opening statement
Giocoechea described to jurors an extensive battery of tests and consultations Stein ordered, arguing that once he had enough information to justify a referral for surgery that he also described as potentially dangerous he promptly made it.
“Thankfully you will get to decide if this was ‘watch and wait.’” Giocoechea said.
The trial is taking place before Judge Dan Wilson, and CVN’s coverage will continue for the duration of the proceedings.
The case is captioned Brett Camen v. Glacier Eye Clinic PC and Kalispell Regional Medical Center Inc., case number DV-15-2019-0000361-PI, in the Montana Eleventh Judicial District Court in Flathead County.
E-mail David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com