Albany $2 million Verdict

Times Union (May 15, 1985)
Malpractice damages set at $2M

NYS jury: Delmar man gets $2M over wife’s death at hospital — B-1

By Shirley Armstrong

A State Supreme Court jury in Albany awarded $2 million in a medical malpractice case Tuesday to a Delmar man whose 27-year-old wife died in 1980 of a cerebral hemorrhage suffered after she gave birth to a child at St. Peter’s Hospital.

Mark L. Schaeffer, 35, of Sheffield Drive, is to recover the sum from Dr. Margaret Craven, 39, and the corporation with which she is associated, the Delmar Medical Group of Hatinger, Neuter, Landi & Appel, specialists in obstetrics and gynecology.

Interest added to the sum, computed from 1980, will bring it to about $2,900,000, according to attorney William Fox of the East Greenbush firm of Fox & Kates. Fox assisted trial attorney Abraham Jaroslawicz of New York City in representing Schaeffer, who brought the action as an individual and as executor of the estate of his wife, Ena.

Mark Schaeffer contended the defendants failed to order blood tests necessary to treat his wife’s blood coagulation problem, failed to consult with a hematologist and failed to properly treat the blood coagulation condition.

Although Schaeffer also brought hospital, two doctors and two nurse anesthetists, the actions against those defendants were dismissed by Justice Con Cholakis during the nine-day trial. Those defendants were represented by attorney Daniel Whalen.

Right column summary:
Ena Schaeffer, after delivering her child, suffered severe pre-eclampsia and later developed disseminated intravascular coagulation, leading to massive brain hemorrhage and death.

The defense argued blood findings were normal and complications were unavoidable.

The jury deliberated about eight hours over two days.

Dr. Craven indicated she will challenge the verdict.