A $1.28 million settlement in a Sussex County medical malpractice case, Estate of Wyckoff v. Emiliani, alleging that doctors failed to detect terminal cancer following a woman's ulcer surgery, was paid on Oct. 21.

Dina Wyckoff went to the emergency room at St. Clare's Hospital in Denville with severe abdominal pain, and underwent surgery to repair a stomach ulcer, during which a biopsy of the ulcer was taken and sent to a pathologist, defendant Seraphim Rimarenko M.D., according to the estate's attorney, Paul da Costa of Snyder Sarno D'Aniello Maceri & da Costa in Roseland.

Rimarenko interpreted the biopsy and concluded that the ulcer was benign. After the surgery, Wyckoff had follow-up treatments with gastroenterologist Vincent Emiliani, M.D., and during that time underwent a December 2013 endoscopy. Emiliani interpreted biopsied tissue samples from the endoscopy as benign, da Costa said.

Wyckoff was later diagnosed with stage IV cancer and died on Aug. 29, 2016, at age 34.

The suit, claiming pain and suffering and wrongful death, was venued in Sussex County, where Wyckoff and her husband lived. It claimed that both Rimarenko and Emiliani deviated from the standard of care in failing to diagnose Wyckoff's cancer in 2013. The estate alleged, according to da Costa, that: Rimarenko misinterpreted the biopsy results; that Emiliani's endoscopy took an insufficient number of tissue samples and took tissue samples from the incorrect location; and that Emiliani should have performed a second endoscopy after finding during the first endoscopy that the ulcer hadn't yet healed.

A plaintiff expert contended that detection of the cancer in 2013 would have resulted in a five-year survival rate of 50% to 68%, da Costa said.

According to court documents, Emiliani and Rimarenko denied the allegations. Emiliani contended that the plaintiffs' expert failed to establish a deviation from the standard of care.

According to da Costa, the defense disputed causation by contending that Wyckoff's cancer already had spread and metastasized at the time of the September 2013 surgery, meaning that any delay didn't affect her life expectancy.

In February 2019, the estate filed offers of judgment in the amount of $1 million to each defendant, according to the documents.

In each instance, the amount represented the doctor's policy limit, da Costa noted.

The parties settled on Oct. 10, with Rimarenko agreeing to pay $1 million, and Emiliani agreeing to pay $275,000, according to da Costa, who noted that the defendants were covered by separate MD Advantage policies.

Craig Aronow of Rebenack, Aronow & Mascolo in New Brunswick also represented the plaintiffs. He confirmed the settlement.

Robert Evers of Marhsall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin in Roseland, for Emiliani, declined to comment.

Renee Sherman of Ruprecht Hart Ricciardulli & Sherman in Westfield, for Rimarenko, didn't return a call about the case.

— David Gialanella

$525K for Rear-End Hit in Essex

Sales v. Shea Nassau Suffolk Delivery Corp.: Two women who sustained injuries when their vehicle was struck from behind in traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike settled their Essex County case for a combined $525,000 on Sept. 13.

According to the plaintiffs' counsel, on Sept. 15, 2017, Yolanda Sales, then 42, was driving on the turnpike in Newark. Edineia DeAlmeida, then 40, was a passenger. While Sales was stopped, her vehicle was struck from behind by a vehicle driven by Anthony Monteleone.

Sales and DeAlmeida sued Monteleone and his employer, Shea Nassau Suffolk Delivery Corp., claiming negligence.

Sales was later diagnosed with herniations of her C4-5, L3-4 and L5-S1 discs, as well as lumbar radiculopathy. She complained of back pain radiating to her legs with numbness and tingling, in addition to neck pain radiating into her right arm with numbness and tingling. She underwent chiropractic and pain treatment, and later underwent an anterior discectomy and fusion at C4-5 with instrumentation. Sales, whose surgeon said she will have ongoing pain, sought damages for past and future pain and suffering.

DeAlmeida was later diagnosed with herniations at C4-5 and C5-6, cervical radiculopathy, and bulging at L5-S1. She underwent chiropractic and pain treatment, and later underwent an anterior C5-6 fusion and discectomy, in which a plate and screws were implanted. Her neurosurgeon causally related DeAlmeida's injuries and treatment to the accident, and said she will experience lifelong pain.

The defense's expert in orthopedic surgery, in a report, opined that, based on his examination of DeAlmeida, DeAlmeida's complaints are entirely subjective and there was no objective finding that was consistent with her subjective residual complaints. The expert did not submit a report on his findings for Sales.

The parties on Sept. 13 negotiated a pretrial settlement. Shea Nassau Suffolk Delivery's insurer, Travelers Property Casualty Corp., agreed to pay $300,000 to Sales and $225,000 to DeAlmeida, from a policy that provided $1 million of coverage.

The plaintiffs were represented by Christopher L. Musmanno of Einhorn, Barbarito, Frost & Botwinick in Denville.

The defendants were represented by Gellaine T. Newton of the Law Office of William E. Staehle in Morristown.

Editor's Comment: This report is based on information that was provided by plaintiffs' counsel. Defense counsel did not respond to the reporter's phone calls.

— Adapted from VerdictSearch reports