Jury hears civil trial in woman’s death following biopsy

Shortly after 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 8, 2015, Joann Mays, Pottsville, went home from an ultrasound guided biopsy of her thyroid, performed by Mark V. Caliendo, MD, at Affiliated Interventional Services, New Philadelphia.

At 8:37 p.m., driven by a neighbor, she arrived at Schuylkill Medical Center-South emergency department, having extreme difficulty breathing and progressing rapidly to respiratory and cardiac arrest.

By 8:50 p.m. the medical team had initiated CPR and intubated her. At 10:30 p.m. she was transported by helicopter to Lehigh Valley Hospital. A CT scan of her neck showed a large neck hematoma.

Around midnight, she was rushed into surgery, where medical exploration of the hematoma showed active bleeding from the right superior thyroidal artery.

The bleeding was controlled but Mays remained unresponsive, due to hypoxic brain injury. On Sept. 15, her family decided to remove the intubation and provide comfort and care. Mays died Sept. 18.

The family brought a civil suit against Caliendo, which went to jury trial in Schuylkill County on Monday.

On Wednesday, Caliendo testified that this was “a complication related to the procedure.”

Attorneys for Mays and Caliendo will present closing arguments Thursday morning, in the case. The trial is presided over by President Judge William E. Baldwin.

Numerous medical personnel and medical expert witnesses have testified this week.

During testimony Wednesday, attorney Michael Badowski, representing Caliendo, outlined the doctor’s medical background in vascular and interventional radiology. Caliendo, who has been practicing at the Pottsville location since 2001, said that he performs up to 300 thyroid biopsies a year.

Much of the testimony involved debate over types of procedures used for thyroid biopsies.

Mays also had an ultrasound guided biopsy done Aug. 25, 2015, on the left side of her thyroid; the September biopsy was done on the right side of her thyroid. Three types of medications were used so that Mays was in a state of “conscious sedation” for the procedures, which Caliendo almost canceled in August.

“She had a lot of coughing that day, wanted to get up — we were worried about putting the needle in,” Caliendo testified. “We were able to wake her up enough to give her instructions.”

Attorney Fred Fanelli, representing Mays’ family, asked Caliendo what he thought happened during the September biopsy.

“I think the artery was transected during the procedure, probably a partial, compression (by the doctor at the point of needle insertion after the procedure) formed a seal,” Caliendo said. “When she went home, she blew that seal off the artery — my best guess, a partial transection that may have progressed.”

Fanelli pointed out that when he deposed Caliendo, two years after Mays died, he asked Caliendo then what he thought happened, and didn’t get the same answer.

Caliendo said at that time he didn’t have all the information.

Fanelli also asked Caliendo why he didn’t use the “color Doppler” feature of the ultrasound as a routine practice, to check for bleeding, before a patient was discharged.

Earlier, Caliendo had demonstrated the use of ultrasound on his attorney’s neck, finding the thyroid, and using color Doppler to show the location of blood vessels.

Caliendo said that procedure would only be done if there was “clinical indication” of a problem.