No reason given for sudden dismissal

CATLETTSBURG, Ky. — After a day of testimony the civil case of a Proctorville doctor suing an area nursing home for damages abruptly ended Wednesday afternoon.

Dr. Matthew Wilson, an allergist and owner of Tri-State Allergies, was suing Woodland Oaks, an Ashland, Ky., nursing home for what he alleged was negligent care given to his aunt, the late Mabel Hague. Hague was a resident at Woodland Oaks from May 24, 2003 to June 30, 2003. She died on Aug. 3, 2003 at the age of 90.

She had entered Woodland Oaks for rehabilitation following a hip fracture, the second fracture she had suffered that year. Wilson had alleged that because of the care she received at Woodland Oaks, she suffered from dehydration, malnutrition and a urinary tract infection.

This was the third time in two years that the case had come before Boyd County, Ky., Circuit Judge C. David Hagerman. The first two ended in mistrials.

Attorneys for the two parties declined to say if the dismissal meant there had been a monetary settlement. Wilson had been seeking a maximum of $12 million in damages.

“It’s dismissed. That is all I can say,” said Cheryl Harrison, the Frankfort, Ky., attorney representing the nursing home.

Tom Harmon of the Tampa, Fla., law firm of Davis and Harmon, also declined to elaborate on the sudden dismissal. His firm was representing Wilson.

Jurors had been kept waiting in the hallways outside the Catlettsburg, Ky., courtroom for about an hour after the lunch recess. When they were brought into the courtroom, Hagerman told them that after a meeting the case was over.

The morning had begun with testimony from Dr. Jamal Merhy, an Ashland doctor who had cared for Hague on at least two occasions — immediately before Hague entered Woodland Oaks and at the emergency room of a local hospital after her nephew removed her from the nursing home on June 30.

Prior to the nursing home stay, Merhy testified Hague’s blood levels were normal.

“She was not dehydrated,” the doctor stated.

Merhy had examined Hague after her second hip surgery and deemed her a good candidate for rehab.

When Hague was brought into the emergency room of King’s Daughters Medical Center, Merhy observed she had dry skin, dry mouth, high sodium levels in her blood and a heart rate 30 points higher than normal.

“She appeared lethargic,” Merhy testified. “ She had a rapid heart rate. It is significant for a 90-year-old patient. Rapid heart rate can lead to heart failure.”

Lethargy, high sodium levels and dry skin are signs of dehydration, Merhy said. She also testified that Hague had a urinary tract infection when she saw the woman in the ER.

“It looked like she might have been septic,” Merhy said. “That meant infection may have spread in her blood.”

Merhy, who was not paid to testify, received $1,000 from Wilson to review his aunt’s records.

However, on cross-examination with Harrison, Merhy testified that within 24 hours the dehydration symptoms were gone.

The plaintiff’s attorneys continued the video deposition of Dr. Kathryn Locatell, a Sacramento, Calif., geriatric specialist, that had begun on Tuesday afternoon.

Locatell testified that the nursing home’s care plan for Hague stated she should have received a minimum of 1,200 cc of fluids, or the equivalent of five 8-ounce glasses of liquid daily.

Harmon asked the physician if Hague had received that amount.

“Not according to their own records,” Locatell said. “In older people the thirst mechanism isn’t the same as in young people. They depend on nurses.”

The high sodium levels affected the woman’s ability to undergo physical therapy, the doctor said.

“She never regained cognitive function,” Locatell said. “She was not able to participate in any therapy to recover. That is why she died in a month.”

Locatell, who charged $300 an hour to review Hague’s records and to testify, faulted the nursing home staff for not doing assessments and charting Hague’s daily situation.

“They failed to chart adequately,” she said. “The nursing department is absent in this lady’s care.”

Harmon asked Locatell if “the failure of care at Woodland Oaks caused or contributed to her death?”

“Yes, definitely,” she replied.

During the last six months of her life, Hague was transferred to 10 different institutions, either hospitals or nursing homes.

Under cross-examination by Harrison Locatell agreed that numerous environmental changes in a woman as old as Hague could contribute to a decline.