A $4.2 million settlement was reached on July 3 in Niedzwiadek v. Anmuth, the Atlantic County case of a Southampton woman who died following routine neck surgery after the physician who was supposed to be monitoring her signals remotely allegedly was out driving and making phone calls.

According to court documents and an attorney in the case, on Oct. 22, 2013, Margaret Mary Niedzwiadek, a 59-year old mother and grandmother, had a spinal disc and fusion procedure performed at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City.

Intraoperative neuro-monitoring used to assess functional integrity of the brain, brain stem and spinal cord, showed concerning and diminishing signals beginning about 40 minutes into the procedure, the suit claimed, based on records and testimony from Dr. Craig J. Anmuth, D.O.

The suit claimed neither Anmuth nor Robert Perro, the neuro-monitoring technician inside the operating room, reported the signal change to surgeons.

The plaintiffs' medical expert said the position of the patient's neck likely cut off blood flow, which could have been easily remedied had the surgeons been informed. According to the suit, evidence showed that Anmuth, a specialist in electro-diagnostic medicine and medical director of defendant Bacharach Institute for Rehabilitation, had not been monitoring remotely.

Anmuth testified that he had been monitoring from the start of surgery, and that his internet connection must have been lost, leaving his laptop screen frozen without his realizing it.

Niedzwiadek never awoke from surgery and remained in a coma for nearly two months before she died.

Michael A. Trunk of Kline & Specter in Philadelphia represented Niedzwiadek's son, David J. Niedzwiadek, the administrator of her estate. The suit, filed in 2015 in Camden County, was later transferred to Atlantic County before Superior Court Judge Christine Smith.

Anthony Tracy of Ronan Tuzzio & Giannone in Tinton Falls represented Anmuth. Tracy could not be immediately reached for comment. Personal counsel for Anmuth was Paul R. D'Amato of the D'Amato Law Firm in Egg Harbor Township. D'Amato had no comment.

Counsel for Perro was James B. Sharp of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker in Florham Park. Sharp was not available for comment.

Counsel for AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center Inc. and AtlantiCare Health System Inc. was Epiphany McGuigan of Fox Rothschild in Atlantic City. McGuigan did not return a call.

Timothy Zanghi of Crammer, Bishop & O'Brien in Absecon represented the Bacharach Institute for Rehabilitation and could not be reached for comment. Jane S. Kelsey of Weber, Gallagher, Simpson, Stapleton, Fires & Newby in Bedminster represented Perro's employer, Neuromonitoring Technologies Inc. She could not be reached for comment.

Trunk and physician-attorney Gary Zakeosian, also of Kline & Specter, said they discovered evidence that showed Anmuth had been driving his car when the surgery started. Cellphone tower records showed Dr. Anmuth made or received seven phone calls during the surgery, despite testifying he didn't use his phone at all during the operation, they said.

A forensic analysis of Anmuth's computer and subpoenaed records from his virtual private network provider also showed that he was not logged into the surgery until nearly 50 minutes after it had begun, the suit claimed.

A forensics expert retained by Kline & Specter also determined that Anmuth had used anti-forensic software multiple times to purge his computer of all evidence from that day, Trunk said.

The $4.2 million settlement was reached as the Superior Court in Atlantic County was set to hear argument on the plaintiff's motion to add claims for punitive damages against Anmuth, Perro, and their employers.

The settlement included $2 million from Anmuth; $1 million from his employer, Bacharach Institute for Rehabilitation; $1.1 million from Perro and his employer, Neuromonitoring Technologies Inc.; and $100,000 from AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center.

“This was the most egregious case of malpractice I've seen in my nearly two decades of practicing law,” said Trunk in a statement. “None of the health-care providers would tell this poor family what really happened to their mother, and I'm grateful that our more than five-year investigation and prosecution of this case uncovered the truth and provided closure to the family.”

A provision of the settlement was that Anmuth agreed to cease all neuro-monitoring activity for at least one year, Trunk said. “The Niedzwiadeks want to make sure no other family has to endure the needless loss of a loved one, as happened here.”

— Suzette Parmley

Struck Pedestrian Paid $1.4M

Wooding v. Ruane: A woman hit by an out-of-control vehicle in a town parking lot was paid the final installment of a $1.4 million settlement in her Union County suit on July 15.

On July 12, 2016, plaintiff Laurie Wooding had just parked her vehicle and was walking in a municipal parking lot at the intersection of Woodland and DeForest avenues in Summit. A vehicle entering the lot drove through a lowered parking lot gate and struck several vehicles. Wooding, walking in the lot at that moment, was knocked down either by the out-of-control vehicle or by one of the parked other vehicles that was struck, said her lawyer, Kathryn Schwartzstein of Smith & Schwartzstein in Morristown.

Wooding, currently 59, sustained several injuries, most seriously to her hip and left shoulder, and was hospitalized for two weeks after the incident, Schwartzstein said. Wooding underwent surgery to repair fractures to her shoulder and hip—a total shoulder replacement and implantation of pins in the hip—and now has limited mobility and ongoing pain, Schwartzstein said.

The suit named the driver of the vehicle entering the parking lot, Mary Ruane, who, according to Schwarzstein, apparently failed to put her vehicle in park when she stopped at the parking gate to a retrieve a ticket from the machine.

The suit also included claims against Amano McGann, the company that installed the parking gate, but Union County Superior Court Judge Mark Ciarrocca dismissed the company on summary judgment in January 2019, according to documents. Claims against the City of Summit were voluntarily dismissed, Schwartzstein said.

The parties had a trial date set for early 2019 when settlement discussions began, Schwartzstein said. The parties reached a settlement in principal in early March, documents noted. According to Schwartzstein, the settlement was finalized in April, and Wooding received the final payment on July 15.

Ruane's counsel, Brian Higgins of Foster & Mazzie in Totowa, declined to comment on the settlement.

— David Gialanella