News
Attempt Made To Add Medical Lab To Negligence Case
By: Steve Robb | Athens Messenger
Posted on:
Permission is being sought to add Athens Medical Laboratory to a medical negligence case pending in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.
In March, Danny Metts of Athens filed a lawsuit on behalf of his young son, Bradley Metts, who has suffered severe medical issues that the lawsuit claims resulted from negligence. Named as defendants are Nationwide Children’s Hospital, University Medical Associates of Athens and medical personnel.
On Monday, a motion was filed by the Metts’ attorney seeking permission to file an amended complaint that would include Athens Medical Laboratory as a defendant in the lawsuit.
A copy of the proposed complaint alleges Athens Medical Lab, UMA and defendant Staci James, a certified nurse practitioner, failed to timely follow-up on and/or report test results that would have necessitated the immediate referral of Bradley Metts to a hospital.
It is also claimed that University Medical Associates was “aware of occasions on which critical lab results were not reported timely by Athens (Medical) Lab, but failed to adopt policies or practices for appropriate follow-up on lab tests to ensure timely reporting of results and information necessary to the appropriate treatment of UMA patients.”
The motion to amend the complaint also seeks to add the boy’s mother, Nikki Metts, to the lawsuit as a plaintiff. A similar motion to add her as a plaintiff was filed in an Ohio Court or Claims lawsuit filed against the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. That case has been stayed while a determination is being made on whether Dr. Amy Zidron is a state employee of Ohio University who is entitled to personal immunity.
Both lawsuits assert there was a failure to timely diagnose and properly treat Bradley’s ear infection and/or failure to properly treat his subsequent mastoiditis, meningitis and cerebral edema. The lawsuits state that Bradley has suffered severe and permanent injuries, and assert that those injuries are the result of negligence.
Zidron and James are both listed as defendants in the Franklin County Common Pleas Court case, and both are listed as employees of University Medical Associates. Dr. Ronald Grondin of Children’s Hospital was named as a defendant in the original lawsuit, but was dropped from the lawsuit by the Metts last May.
The defendants in the cases have filed responses denying the allegations in the lawsuits.