A $5.1 million settlement has ended Ryan v. Shih, an Essex County medical malpractice suit on behalf of a woman whose stroke was misdiagnosed as a psychiatric episode.

Patricia O'Brien was brought to Morristown Medical Center on Nov. 9, 2013, after experiencing shortness of breath, confusion and incoherence. Then 53, O'Brien complained of a dull headache and an altered mental status. She was first seen by a doctor two hours after arriving and was placed under psychiatric observation. Her condition deteriorated, and she was sent for a CT scan of the head six hours after arriving at the hospital. Throughout this time, her family repeatedly informed the medical staff that they believed she was having a stroke, according to their lawyer, Bruce Nagel.

After she was diagnosed with bleeding and fluid retention of the brain, she was taken to another hospital for treatment, said Nagel, of Nagel Rice in Roseland, who was assisted by Susan Connors of the same firm.

O'Brien, who worked full time before the incident as a driver for the disabled, suffered severe cognitive damage as a result of the delayed treatment, according to Nagel. She now lives in a group home with 24-hour supervision. Experts for the plaintiffs said it was a deviation from the standard of care to ignore the signs of a stroke and to provide only a psychiatric evaluation. Those experts opined that if a CT scan of the head had been ordered earlier, O'Brien likely would have received faster treatment and would have avoided the catastrophic injury that occurred, according to Nagel.

Following mediation with former Superior Court Judge Mark Epstein of Hoagland, Longo, Moran, Dunst & Doukas, a settlement was reached in July 2018 for $5.1 million with two emergency room nurses, Lorraine Kane and Tanya Paolari Santoro, as well as first-year resident physician Patrick Zimmerman and Morristown Medical Center. A friendly hearing and allocation of the settlement was held Dec. 12, 2018 by Superior Court Judge Bahir Kamil. Payment from the defendants was received by Nagel Rice as of Jan. 8, 2019, the lawyers said. 

The case is still proceeding against several other defendants, said Nagel,  

Peter Marra of Schenck, Price, Smith & King in Florham Park represented Santoro. Anthony Cocca of Cocca & Cutinello in Morristown represented Kane, Zimmerman and Morristown Medical Center. They did not return calls about the case.

— Charles Toutant

Elevator Worker Settles Injury Suit for $1.2M

Hernandez v. Skanska USA Building Inc: An elevator mechanic foreman who suffered a shoulder injury in a building construction site agreed to a $1.2 million settlement in his Essex County suit, and a $197,427 workers' compensation lien waiver, on May 2.

According to the suit, Raymond Hernandez was employed by Thyssen Krupp Elevator Co. on Feb. 10, 2015, when he was working on construction of the Prudential Tower building in Newark. His employer was under contract to Skanska USA Building Inc. to install the elevators in the building, which is owned by Prudential Financial.

Hernandez was injured when he walked into the elevator machine room on the 14th floor. Areas adjacent to the elevator machinery had a raised computer floor, making it necessary to step down about 15 inches to reach the machine room. However, on the weekend before Hernandez's injury, someone installed a makeshift step on the elevator machine room floor so a person stepping off the raised computer floor would step onto this makeshift step and then onto the concrete floor of the elevator machine room, the suit claimed.

On the day of the accident, the makeshift step buckled when Hernandez stepped into it from the raised floor, causing him to twist his ankle and fall forward onto the floor, said the suit, which claimed he sustained a rotator cuff tear with impingement syndrome in the left shoulder, as well as a left ankle sprain. He underwent two operations on his left shoulder, in May 2015 and November 2016. Following the operations, Hernandez returned to his job as an elevator mechanic but he was unable to continue due to pain and discomfort in his left arm, he claimed. He took a job as an elevator inspector for Rutgers University, but that position paid far less than his previous job, said Peter Chamas of Gill & Chamas in Woodbridge, who represented Hernandez.

An investigation failed to determine who created the makeshift step, but determined that it was not properly built and was a hazard, Chamas said.

Hernandez filed suit against Skanska, which brought a third-party claim against Thyssen Krupp for indemnification and contribution. That claim is still active and is scheduled for trial in July, according to Chamas.

Skanska asserted that Hernandez was able to continue his job, and that his economic loss claim was inflated, Chamas said.

The settlement was reached following mediation with former Superior Court Judge Dennis Carey III, now with Tompkins McGuire Wachenfeld & Barry in Roseland.

Skanska and Thyssen Krupp are jointly funding the settlement, said Chamas.

Skanska's lawyer was Joseph DiRienzo of DiRienzo & DiRienzo in Westfield. Thyssen Krupp's lawyers were Kenneth Labbatte and Craig Rygiel of Mound, Cotton, Wollan & Greengrass in Florham Park. DiRienzo and Labbatte declined to discuss the case.

— Charles Toutant