An eight-member Ohio jury has sided with a local radiologist in a case alleging wrongful death, local media reported Tuesday.
The dispute dates back to summer of 2015, when Bobby Jackson visited the Wilson Health Memorial Hospital emergency department in Sidney, Ohio. He complained of back pain, difficultly urinating and shortness of breath, undergoing a CT scan to rule out pulmonary embolism. Peter G. Knabe, MD, interpreted the exam, finding damage from emphysema but no suspicious masses or nodules. He did not order any follow up imaging, the Sidney Daily News reported Oct. 31.
Less than two years later, Jackson was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer in March 2017 and died in September of that year. His widow, Marlene Jackson, subsequently sued, alleging negligence on the part of Knabe, of Lima Radiological Associates, and family practitioner Stephen E. Justice, MD, led to her husband’s death.
However, after a five-day trial and 90 minutes of deliberations, jurors ruled in favor of the two physicians, believing that neither of them were negligent in Jackson’s care.
Read more about the case from the local newspaper here:
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.