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Clearwater, FL— Attorneys Wednesday debated the circumstances surrounding the death of a Florida woman days after she underwent a hysterectomy, as trial opened against the hospital that treated her. Silveira v. Bayfront HMA Medical Center, 17-001586-CI.
Maria Silveira, 54, died from sepsis-related complications on July 1, 2014, less than a week after her bowel was perforated during a hysterectomy performed at Bayfront Health - St. Petersburg. Silveira’s husband, Claudio Silveira, contends that the hospital’s nursing staff failed to properly follow up and report the signs of the woman’s deteriorating condition in time to save her.
Bayfront, through its nursing staff, is the only defendant at trial.
During Wednesday’s openings, Claudio Silveira’s attorney, Karina Perez Ilić, of Vanguard Attorneys, walked jurors through the timeline of Maria Silveira’s treatment. Ilić told jurors evidence would show that the hospital’s nurses failed to inform a treating physician or nurse practitioner of tell-tale signs of growing infection late over the weekend before her death, including concerning blood work and other test results, as well as the deterioration of her surgical wound.
“The real reason we are all here today is because of how long it took to discover what happened to Maria Silveira,” Ilić said, before telling jurors she would ultimately request $15 million in damages in closings.
But the defense contends Bayfront’s nurses acted appropriately under the circumstances. On Wednesday, La Cava, Jacobson & Goodis’ Louis La Cava walked jurors through medical records he said showed that nurses properly charted pertinent medical information and that they reported their findings to the treating physician, who examined Silveira multiple times across the weekend.
“The nurses weren’t negligent. The nurses were communicating and [the doctor] was responding,” La Cava said.
Trial is expected to last roughly two weeks.
Email Arlin Crisco at acrisco@cvn.com.
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