Verdicts & Settlements
Misdiagnosis Resulting in Death
A Lackawanna County jury has awarded $1.2 million to the widow of a man who was misdiagnosed in the Emergency Department at Tyler Memorial Hospital in Tunkhannock and suffered an agonizing death 36 hours later.
Michael Scarpa, 55, went to the hospital complaining of severe chest pains where physicians conducted X-rays and ran tests checking for a heart attack. After the tests came back negative, Scarpa was sent home with narcotic pain medication.
Scarpa was rushed back to the hospital two days later, after collapsing, where he later died. An autopsy revealed that Scarpa suffered from a perforated esophagus. Gastric contents leaked into his chest cavity, causing sepsis.
The jury found Daniel L. Coster, D.O. 20 percent at fault, Jeffrey Lubin, MD 30 percent at fault, the hospital 40 percent at fault and Michael Scarpa himself 10 percent at fault for not revealing a prior esophageal surgery.
The family was represented by attorneys Matthew A. Cartwright and Robert W. Munley III of Munley, Munley & Cartwright, P.C. The case was delayed for years and the lawyers intend to file court papers seeking "delay damages" that could push the $1.2 million verdict up to $1.9 million. Scarpa died in April, 1999.
Related Scranton Times Tribune Article: Jury awards widow $1.2 million in Scranton malpractice trial
