CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Jordan Redavid delivering his opening statement
Bushnell, FL - A Florida state court jury heard opening statements Tuesday in a medical malpractice lawsuit blaming a woman’s death on an emergency room doctor’s alleged failure to diagnose a hole in her esophagus following an endoscopy procedure, and the full trial is being webcast gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
Plaintiff Patrick Golden sued Dr. Frank Cantrell, at the time an emergency room physician at Villages Hospital, following the 2016 death of his wife Joyce Golden. He claims his wife presented in the emergency department with “textbook” signs of an esophageal perforation which would have been immediately confirmed by a chest X-ray, but by the time diagnostic scans were performed she had already developed fatal sepsis.
Golden’s attorney, Jordan Redavid, told the Sumter County jury he would ask for between $8 and $9 million following a two-week trial, but Dr. Cantrell’s attorney insisted Joyce presented with symptoms consistent with pancreatitis, another common endoscopy complication, and that her treatment met the standard of care for those symptoms at the time.
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Redavid explained to jurors that Joyce had an endoscopy procedure to treat stones in her bile duct. However after returning home from the Orlando hospital where the procedure was performed she quickly developed intense pain in her throat and back.
The couple went to the nearest emergency room available at Villages Hospital, and Redavid said within moments of their evaluation by a triage nurse Dr. Cantrell was informed of the arrival of a patient fresh off an endoscopy procedure presenting with symptoms that Redavid claimed should have immediately suggested a perforation, which he characterized as one of the most common endoscopy complications.
Esophageal perforations can only be confirmed with imaging, and Redavid argued the decision not to immediately obtain a chest x-ray at that time had fatal consequences.
“The standard requires the doctor to at least order a chest x-ray to rule out if she’s got a perforation,” Redavid said. “This man never did it, and Joyce Golden is dead because of it.”
According to Redavid Dr. Cantrell didn’t actually see Joyce for another hour, and he stressed this entire process ate into the critical “golden window” after perforations occur for them to be surgically repaired before infection sets in.
During this time her condition continued to deteriorate, and she began coughing up blood and suffering low oxygen levels. Despite this, she was moved to the general floor, and Dr. Cantrell transferred her care to another doctor before going off shift.
Eventually Joyce’s condition became critical and she was airlifted to another hospital for emergency surgery but later succumbed to infection.
Redavid repeatedly and forcefully stated throughout his opening that this all could have been prevented with a chest x-ray that takes only moments to perform, noting that Joyce received chest x-rays in the same emergency department previously for far less life-threatening conditions.
“Some cases are close calls,” Redavid insisted. “This was not one of them.”
Representing Dr. Cantrell, attorney Wilbert Vancol told jurors the esophagus runs from the throat all the way down to the stomach, and that the symptoms Joyce described upon arriving in the emergency room all suggested pain in the upper abdominal area and not the chest or throat.
He explained that pancreatitis is the most common complication after endoscopy, and that it was not unreasonable for Dr. Cantrell to focus his attention on her abdominal area where a chest x-ray would have been unrevealing.
“It does not meet the standard of care,” he said firmly.
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Wilbert Vancol delivering his opening statement
Vancol explained that the only way to accurately diagnose a perforation through imaging wouldn’t even be by a chest x-ray but rather a chest CT scan, however he argued by the time Joyce’s condition worsened and it became clear her issues were not abdominal, the “golden window” had passed and it was likely too late to save her life regardless of what steps were taken.
The trial is taking place before Judge Erin Daly, and CVN’s live and on-demand coverage will continue for the duration of the proceedings.
The case is captioned Golden, et al. v. Florida Health Inc., et al..
E-mail David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com
