Wrongful Death - Article - Suit settled for $400,000 in ’02 death of patient
Posted on Jan 24, 2006 | The Journal Gazette
Suit settled for $400,000 in '02 death of patient
By Sara Eaton
A 14-year-old Fort Wayne boy will receive more than $400,000 in connection with the 2002 death of his father, according to guardianship records filed in Allen Superior Court.
A trust has also been established for the teen, Jakkob A. Herbst, outlining the terms of the guardianship his mother, Brenda Baker, seeks because he is a minor. A guardianship is typically sought when minors are to receive a settlement so an adult may oversee financial affairs.
Herbst's father, Jeffry Herbst, died March 6, 2002 , of myocarditis the inflammation of muscular walls of the heart, according to a wrongful-death lawsuit filed in October 2004. Jeffry Herbst was a patient at Lutheran Hospital at the time of his death.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Jakkob by Jeffry Herbst's widow, Geneva Herbst, and alleged Dr. Michael Mohrman, Brooklyn Medical Associates and Lutheran Hospital failed to provide appropriate treatment to Jeffry Herbst.
Allen Superior Court Judge David Avery has since dismissed the lawsuit after attorneys filed paperwork stating a settlement was reached.
Exact details of the settlement are not known.
The attorney representing Lutheran Hospital , Charles McNagny, said the settlement contains a confidentiality clause restricting those involved from releasing additional information.
According to the guardianship paperwork, Jakkob will receive in excess $400,000 a result of a wrongful death lawsuit. A guardian is necessary so
of the settlement may be completed, according to court records.
The attorney who filed the original lawsuit, Robert L. Thompson, also declined to comment Monday.
According to court records, the settlement was reached about two months before the case would have gone to trial, and the guardianship application refers to it as still being completed.
Before the lawsuit was filed, a medical review panel found Mohrman failed to comply with the appropriate standard of care for Jeffry Herbst but that the failure was not a factor in his death. The panel found Lutheran used the appropriate standard of care and did not issue an opinion for Brooklyn Medical Associates.
Jeffry Herbst was diagnosed March 4, 2002 , with carpal tunnel syndrome and was prescribed splints and medication by Mohrman, his family doctor.
Two days later, Herbst began complaining of nausea and congestion and had a fever. Later that day he was admitted to Lutheran with the diagnosis of pneumonia and treated for that condition, according to the original lawsuit.
Throughout the day Herbst's condition continued to deteriorate, and he died about 8:20 p.m.
Jeffry Herbst's condition was discovered during an autopsy, and the doctor performing it, Scott Wagner, described it as one of the worst cases he'd seen in his 19 years, according to court records.
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