Yesterday a judge ordered the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania to provide crucial evidence to lawyers for the estate of Tony Grier, the man who died after receiving a pair of cancerous lungs at HUP two years ago.
Pennsylvania Eastern District Court judge Barclay Surrick told HUP's defense attorneys to send the plaintiff films of X-rays. The films show that HUP doctors had observed cancer on the lungs but did not treat it until too late, according to Grier's mother, Emma, who filed the case against HUP.
The films are crucial to the progression of the case. Once the court has seen whether the X-rays show what the plaintiff alleges, "we can get into this case for real," Surrick said.
At yesterday's conference, plaintiff and defense attorneys also argued over the validity of a significant amendment that Emma Grier's attorney filed in December, seven months after the original complaint.
The amendment expanded the list of defendants to include the hospital that gave HUP the diseased lungs, as well as the donor program, Gift of Life, which deemed the lungs suitable for transplant.
The amendment also added "assault and battery," "intentional or negligent misrepresentation" and "lack of informed consent" to the list of charges against HUP.
Dawn Jackson, the lawyer representing Grier's estate, argued that she filed the amendment in light of new information she received from Penn in mid-December.
That information indicated that the lungs originally came from Lancaster Hospital, and that doctors actually misrepresented the identity of the lung donor to Grier.
"Once that information was given to me, clearly issues of uninformed consent and punitive damages came into play," Jackson said.
Defense lawyer Christina Tershakovec responded that the plaintiff's motion to amend the complaint was an attempt to lobby an entirely new set of charges against HUP.
"Filing a brand-new complaint would not be appropriate," Tershakovec said.
Because the defendants still contest the legitimacy of the amended complaint, they have not yet responded to it.
Surrick gave each side two weeks to file memoranda that will allow the court to decide whether the amendment is appropriate. The defense also must send the X-ray films to the plaintiff within two weeks.
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