$1M Medical Malpractice Settlement

Curley v. Unnamed Doctors: A cardiac surgeon agreed on April 4 to pay $1 million to settle a Hudson County Superior Court claim by the widow of a computer engineer who died after an allegedly negligent operation.

The suit charged that an attempt to repair the heart of Scott Curley, 30, of Hoboken. at Newark's Beth Israel Medical Center in June 1997 went awry, causing cardiac damage that led to his death four months later, according to the plaintiff's lawyer, Gerald Baker of Hoboken's Baker, Garber,

The surgeon, whose name was not disclosed, closed an atrial septal defect, a hole in part of the heart, and fixed a congenital misplacement of the pulmonary vein. After the operation, Curiey's heart worsened. A pacemaker was installed and he died of a heart attack at Beth Israel, where he was undergoing tests. Baker says.

The case settled as Baker was nearly finished presenting his side before Judge Maurice Gallipoli. The surgeon's carrier, Princeton Insurance Co.. which had cailed in Judith Wahrenberger of Springfield's Wahrenberger & O'Brien. paid the $1 million. Another defendant, an unnamed cardiologist represented by Thomas Leyhane of Ewing's Leyhane & Cunningham. did not pay into the settlement.

Wahrenberger says the defense prepared evidence that the doctor met every professional standard, that surgeries like Curlev's are inherently risky and that the patient accepted the risk. She says the defense evidence suggested that Curlev's heart was damaged by an air embolus, a recognized adverse occurrence in open-heart surgery.

Wahrenberger says the plaintiff demanded $4 million before trial and that prudence — in a case involving a high-income decedent so young — dictated a settlement once the plaintiff was willing to take $1 million.

By Henry Gottlieb