After almost four years of legal back-and-forth, three Ohio judges have upheld a unanimous $7 million verdict from October 2023 against Germantown, Md.-based Alteon Health and Patrick Bovino, DO, WFMJ 21 reported Jan. 2.
The initial negligence lawsuit came after Brian Patrick, a 53-year-old businessman from Columbiana County, died in May 2020 at Salem (Ohio) Regional Hospital due to cardiac arrest that resulted from an acute gastrointestinal hemorrhage. According to the civil complaint, two days prior to his death, Mr. Patrick had been taken to the emergency room at Mercy Hospital in Youngstown, Ohio, after experiencing nausea and vomiting blood.
The lawsuit asserts that the attending physicians ordered chest X-rays, bloodwork and an IV but did not consult a gastroenterologist despite Mr. Patrick's history of GI disease and lupus. Mr. Patrick was allegedly sent home after an hour and a half with instructions to take Tylenol. Two days later, he once again began vomiting blood and was taken to Salem Regional Hospital, where he later died.
The case against Mercy Health was dismissed following a settlement with Dr. Patrick's family, according to the report. The appeals court then denied Dr. Bovino and Alteon Health, ruling that their claim of errors in the case "lacked merit."