CVN screenshot of defense attorney Wilbert Vancol delivering his closing argument
Bushnell, FL - A Florida state court jury delivered a defense verdict Tuesday clearing an emergency room physician of responsibility for allegedly failing to diagnose a fatal hole in a woman’s throat following an endoscopy procedure, and the full trial was recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
The Sumter County jury returned their verdict the same day they heard closing arguments in a trial that began June 17. Plaintiff Patrick Golden accused Dr. Frank Cantrell of failing to order a crucial chest x-ray that would have revealed the perforation and saved his wife’ Joyce’s life, but the defense successfully argued Joyce presented in the emergency room with symptoms indicating pancreatitis - another common endoscopy complication.
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Golden’s attorneys described how Joyce had an outpatient endoscopy procedure in 2016 to remove stones from her bile duct, but that she quickly developed intense chest and back pains shortly after arriving home.
The couple drove to the emergency room at nearby Villages Hospital, however despite telling a triage nurse Joyce had an endoscopy of her esophagus earlier in the day no scans were performed to determine whether or not she had a perforation.
Joyce’s condition later deteriorated as her oxygen levels dropped and she began producing bloody sputum, but by the time she was transferred to another hospital for emergency surgery she had already developed a fatal infection.
Plaintiff attorney John Fischer of Fischer Redavid PLLC explained that perforations have to be repaired within hours of occurring to prevent infection from setting in, and they can only be diagnosed via imaging. He asked jurors to award Patrick $9 million in damages, arguing the failure to order a chest x-ray when presented with a “textbook case” of perforation - one of the most common complications from esophageal endoscopy - fell below the standard of care.
Representing Dr. Cantrell, defense attorney Wilbert Vancol of McEwan Martinez Dukes Hall & Vancol PA told jurors that both esophageal perforation and pancreatitis are common complications from the type of endoscopy Joyce underwent, and that all the symptoms she presented with in the emergency room suggested issues in the abdominal area and not the throat.
Vancol said a chest x-ray wouldn’t have been appropriate for an endoscopy patient dealing with pancreas issues, and that Dr. Cantrell’s actions had to be evaluated based on the symptoms Joyce presented with. Vancol insisted that Dr. Cantrell’s treatment decisions all met the standard of care for an endoscopy patient with possible pancreatic complications.
He told jurors even chest x-rays can’t definitively confirm perforations, and that a chest CT scan would have been needed to make that diagnosis. However by the time it became clear Joyce had an esophageal perforation, Vancol said the critical window to detect it had already passed and there was no realistic way to save her life.
Attorneys for the parties did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The trial took place before Judge Erin Daly.
The case is captioned Golden, et al. v. Florida Health Inc., et al..
E-mail David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com
