An Akron mother suffered from lupus that sometimes caused her brain to swell.
When Nakeyia McMichael’s headaches got really bad, her neurologist had advised her to go to the emergency room immediately.
McMichael, suffering from a headache so intense it was causing her to vomit, went to the emergency department of Akron General Medical Center on June 8, 2012. An ER doctor diagnosed her with a migraine and sent her home.
The next day, McMichael, 33, a mother of three and a nurse, died.
McMichael’s husband, Anthony, sued the hospital, which wasn’t then owned by Cleveland Clinic, and the doctors who provided his wife’s care. By the time the case went to trial, settlements had been reached with the hospital and all but one of the doctors.
A jury recently awarded the family $4.58 million — a significant verdict for Summit County.
Anthony McMichael didn’t want to discuss the case, but his attorney said the family hopes the multimillion-dollar verdict will serve as a warning that substandard care can have consequences.
“It’s verdicts like this that communicate to these defendants that this is not acceptable,” said Nick DiCello, a Cleveland attorney representing the family. “That will instill change.”
Following the settlements, jurors decided Anthony McMichael’s suit against Dr. John Pakiela, the attending and supervising physician, and General Emergency Medical Specialists Inc., also known as GEMS, the group of Akron doctors that staffs Akron General’s ER.
“Our hearts go out to the family of Nakeyia McMichael for their loss,” Stephanie York, a spokeswoman for Cleveland Clinic Akron General, said in an emailed statement.
York also said the doctor involved “is an independent contractor not affiliated with Akron General.”
GEMS has requested a new trial and has asked to delay the payment of the verdict until appeals are complete.
Michael Ockerman, an Akron attorney representing GEMS, didn’t return a phone message Wednesday seeking comment.
GEMS has long provided — and continues to provide — doctors to staff the emergency rooms at Akron General’s main and regional locations. The doctors group has been sued before, with Summit County court records showing 83 cases filed between 1995 and this year. This includes six medical malpractice lawsuits that are pending.
One of these cases is scheduled to go to trial next month in Summit County Common Pleas Judge Todd McKenney’s courtroom. Kelie Reis of Medina claims she went in January 2014 to the Akron General emergency room in Bath Township where a doctor failed to diagnose her urinary tract infection. She ended up having both legs amputated below the knee and losing six fingers, according to the lawsuit.
Reis is suing the doctor who saw her in the ER, Akron General and GEMS.
Emergency-room doctors are among the most prone to be sued. A 2013 report by the website Medscape listed emergency medicine as one of the eight specialties with the most medical-malpractice lawsuits. The report was based on a national survey of 1,400 doctors who had been sued.
Repeated ER visits
Before her death, Nakeyia McMichael had been seen twice before in emergency rooms for extreme headaches, including one other time at Akron General. She was diagnosed both times with brain swelling and given medication to bring down the swelling.
When McMichael went to the Akron General emergency department in June 2012, DiCello said it was near a shift change at the hospital. He said she was primarily cared for by a first-year resident who diagnosed her as having a migraine, provided her narcotic drugs and sent her home after two hours.
DiCello said the doctors never looked at McMichael’s previous medical records with the hospital.
The next morning, DiCello said Anthony McMichael found his wife unresponsive. She was taken back to Akron General, but it was too late. He said her brain had swelled, pushing it into the hole at the base of her spine, and she died.
“Our claim is that, had she been properly evaluated with a scan ordered and referred to a neurologist, she would have quickly received one of the drugs to reduce brain swelling at a time when she was still okay,” DiCello said. “She would have survived.”
Anthony McMichael filed his lawsuit in November 2013. A jury trial began May 2 and lasted 15 days. The Summit County jury returned a verdict for McMichael, awarding damages that accounted for lost wages and providing $1 million to each of the children. John Enlow, a visiting judge assigned to the case, affirmed the jury’s findings.
DiCello said the McMichaels remain in the area and are trying to move forward with their lives. The children, two girls and a boy, are now 8, 9 and 16.
“They’re not letting this totally defeat them,” DiCello said. “Holding these people accountable was important to them.”
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705, swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com or on Twitter: @swarsmithabj.