Jury awards $1.2M in negligence suit

MACHIAS – The $3 million jury award that was announced Friday in Washington County Superior Court was the greatest amount ever awarded for a civil case tried in Washington County – exceeding a $1.2 million award just one week earlier.

On Friday, April 29, concluding a five-day trial, a jury awarded a Calais man $1.2 million in damages against a local hospital and a doctor for negligence in diagnosing his advanced kidney cancer.

Delton Stanley Jr., 37, won his judgment against Calais Regional Hospital and Dr. John Tkach, a physician who treated him at the hospital’s emergency room in December 1998.

Stanley’s cancer wasn’t diagnosed until November 1999, nearly one year later, when he returned to the emergency room with pain.

Stanley’s lawsuit also named a second physician, Dr. Patrick Silverthorne. The jury found no negligence by Silverthorne, who now lives in New Mexico.

A 37-year-old maintenance worker in Calais, Stanley said Monday that he continues to be treated for Stage 4 cancer by Bangor doctors.

Stanley’s attorney is Julian Sweet of Berman & Simmons of Lewiston. Sweet was not available for comment Monday.

“He was outstanding,” Stanley said of Sweet’s work.

The case had been filed in October 2003.

Stanley said he was slightly surprised at the amount of the judgment. The jury took about two hours to render its decision.

The sizable amount “doesn’t change much” for Stanley.

“This started in 1998, so it’s been a while,” he said. “I’m glad it’s over.”

The firm Lambert Coffin of Portland represented the hospital. Another Portland firm, Norman, Hansen & DeTroy, represented Tkach.

The jury initially put the total damages against the hospital and Tkach at $1.5 million. That was reduced by $300,000 for Stanley’s own negligence, bringing the final award to $1.2 million.

Stanley had been told by Tkach to visit a urologist after his first emergency-room visit, but Stanley did not follow through with the doctor’s orders.

The case began when Stanley went to the Calais emergency room on Dec. 19, 1998, with blood in his urine. Tkach evaluated him, then ordered him discharged on Dec. 20.

On Dec. 21, Silverthorne evaluated Stanley’s records and discerned a high suspicion of kidney cancer, but did not communicate that to Tkach, according to Stanley’s original complaint. Nor did Tkach communicate to Stanley the likely diagnosis and refer him for cancer-specific treatment.

Stanley was not informed of probable kidney cancer until he returned to the emergency room on Nov. 6, 1999. On Jan. 31, 2000, Stanley underwent surgery, when he finally was diagnosed with Stage 4 kidney cancer.

Stanley sued for medical expenses, lost earnings and lost earnings capacity, mental and physical suffering, and a loss of enjoyment of life.

The hospital argued to the jury that there had been no medical malpractice.

The hospital’s chief executive officer, Ray Davis Jr., could not be reached for comment Monday.

The jury of nine was unanimous in its decision to award the $1.2 million to Stanley.