Merlo v. Parisi

627 N.E.2d 309, 255 Ill. App. 3d 53, 194 Ill. Dec. 194, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 1563
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 8, 1993
Docket1-91-4090
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 627 N.E.2d 309 (Merlo v. Parisi) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Merlo v. Parisi, 627 N.E.2d 309, 255 Ill. App. 3d 53, 194 Ill. Dec. 194, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 1563 (Ill. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

JUSTICE RAKOWSKI

delivered the opinion of the court:

The plaintiff, Sandi Merlo, by her parents and next friends, Pietro and Rosa Merlo, filed a medical malpractice action against defendant, Dr. Frank Parisi, alleging that he was negligent in failing to diagnose her kidney failure and in contributing to this condition through his inappropriate treatment with antibiotics. Following a trial, the jury found in favor of defendant. The issues on appeal are: (1) whether the jury’s verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence; (2) whether the trial court erred in allowing defense counsel to use plaintiff’s school attendance records in the cross-examination of plaintiff’s witnesses and in closing argument; (3) whether the trial court erred in refusing to allow defendant’s medical records to be submitted to the jury during its deliberations; and (4) whether the trial court erred in threatening to call a mistrial after plaintiff’s mother started crying during her testimony. We affirm.

The defendant has been in family practice since 1946. Between 1976 and 1983 about 40% of his patients were children. Mrs. Parisi, a registered nurse, assisted him in the office and was in charge of the medical records and office history cards on each patient. When patients came to the office, their height, weight, blood pressure and temperature would be taken and recorded on the history card before they were seen by defendant. Dr. Parisi had been the Merlos’ family physician since 1967.

The plaintiff was born on November 12, 1975, and aside from poor eating habits, she appeared to develop normally until the age of seven. During this time she saw Dr. Parisi once or twice a year for upper respiratory symptoms such as a sore throat, pharyngitis, fever, nasal congestion, and cough. At each of these visits, Dr. Parisi would examine the plaintiff’s throat, ears and eyes and listen to her chest. On occasion, he would have a urinalysis performed which was always normal. Dr. Parisi treated the plaintiff’s upper respiratory symptoms with penicillin or a similar antibiotic, an antihistamine or decongestant, and a cough suppressant. He did not perform a throat culture before prescribing medication because he believed it was better to assume that a fever and sore throat were bacterial and should be immediately treated with an antibiotic in order to prevent the development of a more serious condition such as strep throat or rheumatic fever. In late 1981 the plaintiff had a tonsilectomy, which was performed by another physician because defendant was on vacation.

In the fall of 1982 the plaintiff started having difficulty eating and retaining her food, and she seemed to need more sleep. On September 16, 1982, the plaintiff saw Dr. Parisi for treatment of a sore throat. She had no fever at that time but did have some wheezing in her lungs. Dr. Parisi prescribed penicillin and a cough suppressant. She was again seen by Dr. Parisi on January 27, 1983. At that time she had a temperature of 102 degrees, a sore throat, a cough, and a weight loss of 41/2 pounds. The plaintiff’s urinalysis was negative, and her heart and lungs appeared to be normal. Dr. Parisi concluded that she had acute pharyngitis and bronchitis, and he treated her with Pediamycin, an appetite stimulant, and medication to stop the vomiting. He also gave her an injection of another antibiotic known as Lincocin. When Dr. Parisi saw the plaintiff four days later, her fever, which had initially subsided, reoccurred, and she complained of abdominal pain and vomiting. He prescribed another antibiotic known as Keflex and continued the appetite stimulant and the Tigan, which she was taking for the vomiting.

Dr. Parisi did not see the plaintiff again until April 1983 when she was brought to the office with her sister who was scheduled for a physical examination. During this visit the plaintiff’s mother requested that the plaintiff be seen by another physician. Dr. Parisi referred the plaintiff to Dr. Akbar Rahmani, an endocrinologist. He saw the plaintiff three days later and ordered blood tests and X rays. Additional diagnostic tests v/ere also performed on the plaintiff the following day. Dr. Rahmani then arranged to have the plaintiff evaluated by Dr. Cyrus Akrami, a kidney specialist. He advised the plaintiff’s mother that the plaintiff was suffering from end-stage renal failure. The plaintiff was subsequently transferred to an intensive care unit under the care of Dr. Edward Moore, a pediatric nephrologist (physician who specializes in the treatment of children with some form of kidney pathology).

The plaintiff was initially treated with dialysis. In August 1983 a transplant was performed with a kidney donated by the plaintiff’s mother. However, the kidney was rejected, and the plaintiff resumed dialysis treatments. In February 1986 the plaintiff received a second transplant, which was apparently successful. Her main complaint has been that the antirejection medication that she is required to take has caused significant weight gain.

At the trial, Dr. Moore testified that the cause of the plaintiff’s kidney disease was unknown and that this was true of the majority of children who had this disease.

Dr. James Allen Schayman testified as an expert witness on plaintiff’s behalf. He was an assistant professor of internal medicine and nephrology at the University of Michigan, board certified in internal medicine and a specialist in nephrology. Aside from a medical school rotation and his internship, Dr. Schayman had very little experience in family practice or the treatment of children. Two-thirds of his professional time was devoted to research at the university. It was Dr. Schayman’s testimony that Dr. Parisi’s treatment of the plaintiff was below the standard of care expected of a reasonably qualified family practitioner. He was most critical of Dr. Parisi’s medical records, which were not as complete as they could have been and in some instances did not contain the name of the patient for whom medication had been prescribed. He also stated that Dr. Parisi should have diagnosed the plaintiff’s kidney disease in September 1982 or January 1983, but he could not say whether the diagnosis of her condition at that time would have prevented the need for subsequent dialysis or the transplants. It was also Dr. Schayman’s opinion that the most likely cause of the plaintiff’s renal failure was the antibiotic therapy which she received from Dr. Parisi over a five- or six-year period. Although Dr. Schayman was aware that penicillin was still used as part of her medication therapy, he stated that the steroids she was taking would suppress any adverse reaction. Dr. Schayman did acknowledge that there were many other causes of renal failure.

Dr. Richard McDonough was a board-certified family practitioner with 12 years of experience in this specialty. Although Dr. McDonough was initially retained to testify on behalf of Dr. Parisi, he was called by plaintiff’s counsel to testify in her case. Dr. McDonough testified that although Dr. Parisi did not always maintain good records, his medical treatment of the plaintiff, including his use of antibiotics, was within the standard of acceptable medical practice. Dr. McDonough also stated that the standards of acceptable practice did not require a family practitioner to order throat cultures or other laboratory tests prior to prescribing antibiotics in view of the plaintiff’s symptoms, which were common symptoms of a bacterial infection. Dr.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Young v. Alden Gardens of Waterford, LLC
2015 IL App (1st) 131887 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2015)
Becht v. Palac
740 N.E.2d 1131 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2000)
Moran v. Erickson
Appellate Court of Illinois, 1998
Gossard v. Jyoti-Kalra
Appellate Court of Illinois, 1997
Gossard v. Kalra
684 N.E.2d 410 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1997)
La Salle National Trust, N.A. v. Swedish Covenant Hospital
652 N.E.2d 1089 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
627 N.E.2d 309, 255 Ill. App. 3d 53, 194 Ill. Dec. 194, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 1563, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/merlo-v-parisi-illappct-1993.