June 17, 2009

IMPROPERLY REMOVED LUNG WINS JURY VERDICT AGAINST HOSPITAL PATHOLOGIST AFTER MISDIAGNOSIS OF CANCER

Hartford—Just before noon at Superior Court today, the jury in Michael Santopietro vs. Elizabeth Lach-Pasko, M.D. awarded $1.56 million to the plaintiff, 67-year-old Canton resident Michael Santopietro, finding that Dr. Elizabeth Lach-Pasko, Director of the Department of Pathology at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, was negligent in her pathology findings, misdiagnosing the plaintiff with cancer requiring immediate resection and removal of a lobe of his lung when there was actually no cancer present.

In 2005, Santopietro, who had recently retired from his job driving a handicap van for children with special needs, underwent a needle aspiration of his lung, which was submitted to the Department of Pathology at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital where Lach-Pasko was a staff pathologist and pathology department director. Lach-Pasko issued a report on the same day that the specimen of Mr. Santopietro’s lung was malignant and cancerous.  Santopietro was immedi-ately referred to a cardiothoracic surgeon who quickly removed of part of the left lung that Lach-Pasko reported was filled with cancer.

While Santopietro was in recovery at St. Francis Hospital after his surgery, their pathology department issued a report indicating that the lung specimen submitted from surgery actually showed “no evidence of malignancy.” Upon reviewing the findings, Santropietro’s primary care physician agreed: there was no tumor and no cancer. The amount of lung tissue removed was described during trial by Lack-Pasko’s own experts as nearly half the surface of a tennis court

At trial, the jury listened to both sides of the case for several weeks. Determining that removal of the lung after the misdiagnosis was unacceptable, the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff who needlessly underwent a painful surgery and is now without a large portion of his lung for no reason whatsoever. The case against the Charlotte Hungerford hospital for its refusal to provide the lung tissue slides in question showing the misdiagnosis was withdrawn prior to trial. The plaintiff now must continue with his life and try to enjoy his retired years, despite his loss of a large portion of his lung.  After the lung was removed, Santopietro required constant supplemental oxygen and is now largely confined to a wheelchair. The jury took forty minutes to deliberate and awarded Santropietro $1.56 million dollars for the pathologist's unacceptable medical malpractice.  

Santopietro was represented by Paul T. Edwards of Stratton Faxon Law Firm in New Haven, Connecticut.