Advertisement
The facts of the underlying lawsuit were as follows: On June 12, 2001, Carl Longnecker, of suburban Woodstock, Illinois, underwent a heart transplant surgery at Loyola University Medical Center. He never regained consciousness after the surgery and died several days later. The Loyola surgeon who performed the heart transplant remarked in his operative note that although the donor heart was allegedly inspected prior to transport from Good Samaritan Hospital to Loyola, he immediately observed heart disease when he brought the donor heart out of the cooler for transplant. An autopsy at Loyola later confirmed significant heart disease in the donor heart.
Advertisement
The Plaintiff alleged that as a result of the 46-year-old donor's history of high blood pressure, cigarette smoking and alcohol and drug use, including both marijuana and cocaine, along with the presence of the heart disease observed by the transplanting surgeon, that the surgeon who harvested the heart, Defendant Dr. Sirish Parvathaneni, should have rejected the heart for transplant. The Plaintiff also alleged that Loyola University Medical Center was negligent in allowing Dr. Parvathaneni to procure the heart from Good Samaritan without understanding that it was his responsibility to evaluate the donor heart for transplant. As a result, by the time that the transplanting surgeon evaluated the donor heart after transport to Loyola, Mr. Longnecker's native heart had already been removed and the surgeons had no choice but to attempt the transplant with the diseased donor heart. The Defendant denied that they were negligent and claimed that Mr. Longnecker had a limited life expectancy of less than one year without a heart transplant, and less than ten years with a heart transplant.
The jury found for the Plaintiff and against Loyola University Medical Center, but in favor of Dr. Sirish Parvathaneni.
Mr. Longnecker, a retired engineer from Baxter Healthcare, was survived by his wife of 38 years, Connie Longnecker, and three adult children.
The Longnecker Estate was represented by Peter D. Hoste and Tom Leahy of the Chicago law firm Leahy & Hoste, (312) 372-8893.
The full case name is Connie Longnecker, as administrator of the estate of Carl Longnecker v. Loyola University Medical Center and Dr. Sirish Parvathaneni, Cook County case no. 02 L 7989, Appellate Court no. 1-06-1536.
SOURCE Tom Leahy & Peter Hoste
