Ardmore couple awarded $6 million

ARDMORE, Okla. (AP) -- A $6 million medical negligence judgment in favor of an Ardmore couple won't make up for the suffering the two have endured, an attorney says. <br><br>"It was a horrible tragedy

Monday, March 6th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

ARDMORE, Okla. (AP) -- A $6 million medical negligence judgment in favor of an Ardmore couple won't make up for the suffering the two have endured, an attorney says.

"It was a horrible tragedy that should have never happened," said George Brawley, who successfully represented Jerry and Beverly Ford in a lawsuit against Mercy Memorial Health Center, Emergency Physicians of Southern Oklahoma and Dr. Trent Kirschstein.

A federal jury awarded the Fords' $6 million Friday in what Brawley termed one of the largest medical negligence judgments ever in the Eastern District in Muskogee.

The lawsuit resulted from an early morning visit on July 5, 1997, by Jerry Ford to Mercy Memorial's emergency room. Brawley said Ford awakened shortly before 4 a.m. with abdominal pain and immediately went to the hospital.

Ford was reportedly given painkillers and tranquilizers. A nurse noted on his chart at 6 a.m. that he was shaking uncontrollably. About 10 minutes later, Ford was told he had the flu and he could go home.

Several hours later, Ford returned to the emergency room in extreme pain. Surgery revealed Ford suffered from a blood clot lodged in the artery supplying blood to his intestines.

Surgeons removed his small intestine and half of his large bowel, said Brawley. "He now lives through a machine that feeds him at a cost of $3,100 per week," he said.

Brawley said the jury held the hospital, Emergency Physicians of Southern Oklahoma and Kirschstein, who now practices in Texas, equally responsible He said the decision gave $5 million to Ford and $1 million to his wife for loss of consortium.

Hospital spokeswoman Judy Akins said the hospital would make no comment on the possibility that the case would be appealed. But she did say, officials at Mercy Memorial expressed sincere empathy for Ford. She said the care administered to Ford in the emergency department followed appropriate protocol and by every measure was a high standard of care.