BRIGHAM & WOMEN’S HOSPITAL chose not to contest the plaintiffs’ offers of proof in two medical malpractice lawsuits against the Boston hospital at a Massachusetts tribunal May 13.
The two lawsuits related to power morcellation will now be allowed to proceed. The suits were filed by Richard Kaitz and Hooman Noorchashm, whose wives, Erica Kaitz and Amy Reed, had the controversial minimally invasive surgery at Brigham in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
The procedure, which until recently was performed in an estimated 100,000 women annually in the U.S., is the focal point of a two-year debate that has divided the surgical field. When a previously undiagnosed malignant tumor—usually a sarcoma—is present, the procedure spreads the cancerous tissue, upstaging the disease (The Cancer Letter, How Medical Devices Do Harm).
Erica died Dec. 7, 2013 from metastatic leiomyosarcoma, and Reed, formerly an anesthesiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is undergoing treatment for stage IV disease.
“It’s a rare case that the defendant does not contest the plaintiff’s offer of proof at the tribunal stage,” said Tom Greene, the attorney representing Kaitz and Noorchashm’s families. Brigham did not respond to an email from The Cancer Letter by deadline.
Massachusetts law requires that a tribunal—consisting of a judge, an attorney, and a physician—review medical malpractice cases to screen out lawsuits that are not supported by clinical evidence or fact. The process determines whether there is sufficient evidence for the case to proceed.
According to the Massachusetts Medical Society, tribunals screen out approximately 16 percent of all medical malpractice cases in the state.
