CVN screenshots of plaintiff attorney Brink Hinson, left, and defense attorney D.Gary Lovell Jr., right, delivering their opening statements
Columbia, SC - A South Carolina state court jury heard opening statements Monday in a medical malpractice lawsuit filed by a man claiming delays in getting him into a cardiac catheterization lab after having a heart attack caused him to suffer a second serious infarction, and the full trial is being webcast gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
Plaintiff Michael Scott Rowland sued Palmetto Health Heart Hospital in 2020 after suffering a heart attack on a local military base. Rowland was initially brought to Palmetto Health Tuomey Hospital, but after determining he needed more intensive cardiac care he was airlifted to the second facility, supposedly with the instructions he needed catheterization “sooner rather than later.”
Rowland claims on arrival he was instead placed in a normal hospital room and subjected to additional tests, and that a short time later he suffered a second major heart attack that required over 40 minutes of resuscitation and resulted in a lengthy hospital stay that left him saddled with millions in medical bills. The hospital maintains Rowland’s treatment was consistent with the standard of care for the specific type of heart attack his EKG supposedly indicated he initially suffered.
The full trial is being webcast and recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network. Subscribers to CVN’s online trial video library get unlimited live and on-demand access to the full trial. Not a subscriber? Sign up today for a monthly or annual account and get access to this trial and hundreds more featuring many of the top plaintiff and defense attorneys from across the country.
Rowland’s attorney, Brink Hinson, told jurors how his co-workers revived him with CPR after finding Rowland unconscious on the floor in a break room. He said Rowland’s EKG at Palmetto Health Tuomey confirmed he suffered a heart attack, and faced with dropping oxygen levels he was flown to Palmetto Health Heart, supposedly with instructions that he needed an immediate catheterization.
Hinson argued the intake doctor at Palmetto Health Heart who coordinated the transfer over the phone didn’t ask for enough information about Rowland’s condition, resulting in the team that took over his care supposedly not realizing the urgency of the situation.
“Had it been done, arrangements would have been made for this man to go right to the cath lab here at the heart hospital,” Hinson said.
Two hours after being placed in a room, Hinson said hospital staff found Rowland in cardiac arrest and undertook a lengthy resuscitation. He was eventually taken to the cath lab, where a major artery was found to have a 99 percent blockage.
Hinson praised the doctors and staff who carried out the catheterization and successfully placed a stent in the artery, and he conceded that other than leg pain and mobility issues related to the oxygen treatment he received that Rowland has largely recovered, but he maintained the delay in getting Rowland into the cath lab fell below the standard of care for acute heart attack patients.
“All this needed to have been done two hours earlier to prevent that second heart attack,” he said.
Hinson didn’t ask for a specific amount of damages, but he did tell jurors that Rowland’s medical bills alone exceed $2 million.
Representing Palmetto, D.Gary Lovell Jr. of Copeland Stair Valz & Lovell LLP told jurors that not all heart attacks are the same, and that while patients with indications on their EKG called 'ST elevations' require urgent catheterization, patients like Rowland with a 'non-ST elevation' heart attack do not.
“This is not has simple as’ lets take him to the cath lab,’” Lovell insisted.
He explained that in non-ST elevated heart attack patients, that the primary concern for doctors is protecting brain function by maintaining adequate oxygen levels.
Patients like Rowland have to first undergo tests to verify brain and lung activity, along with other vital organs, which he said involves a distinct standard of care compared to ST-elevated patients.
“It’s a whole different thing,” Lovell emphasized.
He blamed Rowland’s condition on his personal cardiologist, who he said waited too long to schedule a cardiac stress test after Rowland complained of suddenly becoming more fatigued while working in the yard. That test was actually scheduled to take place the day after Rowland had his heart attack in the break room.
“That’s the cause of all of the problems that Mr. Rowland has today,” Lovell said.
The trial is expected to take roughly one week to complete, and CVN’s video coverage will continue for the duration of the proceedings.
The case is captioned Michael Scott Rowland and Karen Rowland v. Columbia Heart Clinic, P.A.; Stacy H. Graham, M.D.; Leverne M. Prosser, M.D.; and Prisma Health–Midlands, formerly known as Palmetto Health Richland Hospital, doing business as Palmetto Health Heart Hospital, case number 2020-CP-40-02751 in Richland County, South Carolina.
E-mail David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com
