Mercy ordered to pay $29M after jury trial

Last edited 2:07 p.m., March 9, 2017

Mercy Clinic Springfield Communities was ordered to pay $28.9 million after a jury found the organization and one of its doctors guilty of negligence.

The March 3 verdict — delivered after a trial that started Feb. 21 — found the affiliate of Mercy Springfield Communities guilty of not catching or quickly treating defendant Emilee Williams for Wilson’s disease, a disorder where copper accumulates in such vital organs as the brain and liver, according to court documents obtained by Springfield Business Journal. The website of the Mayo Clinic — which has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as the best gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery hospital — states: “When diagnosed early, Wilson's disease is treatable, and many people with the disorder live normal lives.”

The court order comprises:
    •    $21 million for future medical damages;
    •    $3.2 million for future noneconomic damages;
    •    $3.2 million for future economic damages, excluding future medical damages;
    •    $1 million for past noneconomic damages; and
    •    $511,000 for past economic damages, including past medical damages.

According to the petition filed in July 2015, Williams first came to internal medicine physician Dr. Elene Pilapil in December 2012, when she said she was experiencing “fatigue, tremors, a shaky feeling, balance issues, insomnia, difficulty concentrating, crying spells and panic attacks.” Pilapil diagnosed her with malaise/fatigue and depression with anxiety and adjusted her anxiety and depression medications despite Williams and her mother claiming the issues were abnormal. On several occasions, according to court documents, Pilapil refused to send Williams in for neurological imaging or a neurological consult.

In August 2013, after continued pleas from Williams and her mother, Pilapil ordered an MRI of the defendant’s brain. The scan showed severe damage to her brain caused by Wilson’s disease, according to the petition.

As a result of the negligence, Williams now has several complications from Wilson’s disease, including motor and speech impairment, tremors and the need to be fed through a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube that connects to a patient’s stomach, according to court documents.

In a statement provided to SBJ by spokeswoman Sonya Kullmann, Mercy officials said the health system now is mulling potential actions.

“Emilee remains in our prayers as she battles this hereditary disease. Mercy would like to thank the jurors for their time spent hearing testimony and considering the evidence,” the statement reads. “We continue to believe the care we provided was appropriate and will consider our legal options.”

Grant Rahmeyer, one of the defendant’s two attorneys working at Strong-Garner-Bauer PC, said Williams’ life essentially was taken away by a treatable illness.

“This verdict does not give her the life she had back. She won’t get that life back. This verdict will allow Emilee to live with dignity and the medical care that she desperately needs,” Rahmeyer said via email. “We hope this verdict reminds hospitals to give doctors the time to listen to their patients, listen to their families and to raise awareness for Wilson’s disease so that no one will ever have to go through what Emilee went through.”