Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 26, 1993 TAG: 9306260119
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium
Gerald Marable, who was being treated for pancreatitis and alcoholism when he leaped from the window and broke bones in his back, filed suit against Dr. Kathleen McEntee in Norfolk Circuit Court. A jury is hearing the case, and a verdict is expected next week.
Marable claims $137,000 in medical bills and $580,000 in lost future earnings, although he was unemployed and had lost a string of jobs to alcoholism before the 1990 incident.
He says that McEntee, his attending physician, did not give him the right drugs at the right times to keep him calm during withdrawal from alcohol. His lawyer, Thomas J. Harlan Jr., says the doctor should have known how to treat Marable because she had treated him three months earlier at the same hospital.
At that time, Harlan told the jury, Marable was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal, but it didn't work. Marable eventually had to be tied to the bed. Librium didn't work the second time, either, Harlan said. Both times, Marable suffered nightmarish hallucinations that could have been avoided with the right drug in the right dose, he said.
Early one morning, in the middle of a hallucination, he threw a blanket over his head, leaped through his sixth-floor window and crashed to a third-floor roof.
"The evidence will show that Dr. McEntee learned absolutely nothing from the first visit," Harlan said.
McEntee's lawyer, however, said that Marable received "perfectly acceptable, perfectly effective" treatment during his final hospitalization in October 1990.
The lawyer, Charles M. Allen Jr., said Marable responded well to Librium and did not require another drug. In addition, nurses talked him through periods of agitation and responded appropriately with drugs when needed. Despite his hallucinations, "at no time did [Marable] show any symptoms of delirium," in which a patient does not know who he is, where he is or what day it is, Allen said.
A medical malpractice review board ruled in the doctor's favor in May 1992. Marable did not present his case then, preferring to wait for the trial.
In court Wednesday, Harlan described Marable as a troubled young man who drifted around the country in search of work.
Marable was born in Norfolk, had a 10th-grade education and joined the Job Corps in Indiana, Harlan said. Marable later joined the Army, where he began drinking heavily.
After three years in uniform, Marable left for California, then returned to Norfolk, working a string of construction jobs.
"He couldn't do the hard labor," Harlan said. "He was drinking too much."
Marable even lost a job as a Salvation Army truck driver because of his drinking, Harlan said. Marable quit working altogether in 1989.
Today, as a result of the fall, Marable has fused ankles and two permanent rods in his back, Harlan said. He limps and uses a cane. He cannot lift more than 10 pounds for any length of time, Harlan said, and cannot walk or sit long. He did, however, sit through several hours of jury selection and opening arguments.
Harlan said an expert will show that Marable could have earned at least $580,000 if he hadn't jumped out the window.
Lawyers expect testimony to continue through Wednesday or Thursday.
Marable also had sued the hospital, five nurses and two resident physicians for $4 million but settled out of court Tuesday for an undisclosed amount.
by CNB