Trach v. Thrift Drug Inc.

46 Pa. D. & C.4th 231, 2000 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 276
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lehigh County
DecidedMay 16, 2000
Docketno. 97-C-1535
StatusPublished

This text of 46 Pa. D. & C.4th 231 (Trach v. Thrift Drug Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lehigh County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Trach v. Thrift Drug Inc., 46 Pa. D. & C.4th 231, 2000 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 276 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2000).

Opinion

BLACK, J.,

Defendant, Thrift Drug Inc., dispensed the wrong medication to plaintiff, Allen Trach, allegedly causing him serious physical problems, including glaucoma of his right eye and cognitive difficulties. A jury trial resulted in a verdict of $5 million in favor of Trach. Before the court is Thrift Drug’s motion for post-trial relief under Pa.R.C.P. 227.1, seeking a judgment n.o.v. in its favor, or in the alternative, a new trial.

At the trial, Thrift Drug admitted dispensing Doxepin, a tricyclic antidepressant drug, to Trach instead of the antibiotic prescribed by his dentist. Thrift Drug offered no explanation for this error, and we therefore directed a verdict in favor of Trach on the issue of Thrift Drug’s negligence. In response to special interrogatories, the jury found that Thrift Drug’s negligence had caused harm to Trach, and that the amount of money required to compensate Trach for his injuries is $5 million. A molded [234]*234verdict in this amount was then ordered against Thrift Drag in favor of Trach.1

In its post-trial motion, Thrift Drag contends that the testimony of Trach’s expert witness, Dr. John J. Shane, that the Doxepin mistakenly dispensed to Trach caused him substantial harm, was inadmissible as a matter of law. According to Thrift Drag, Dr. Shane’s testimony must be disregarded in toto. Since this was Trach’s only evidence on the issue of causation, Thrift Drag argues that judgment n.o.v. should be entered in its favor. Alternatively, Thrift Drag seeks a new trial on the ground that Shane’s expert opinions were improperly admitted into evidence, or that the verdict was excessive in amount as a result of an improper closing argument by Trach’s counsel- For the reasons set forth below, we deny the motion for judgment n.o.v. and grant a new trial as to damages only.

I. THE FACTS

On July 11, 1995, because of pain in his jaw, Trach went to see his family dentist, Dr. Lentz. After examining Trach, Dr. Lentz suspected some type of infection and therefore prescribed an antibiotic, Amoxil, sometimes referred to as Amoxicillin. Trach took the prescription to a Thrift Drag pharmacy, where it was partially filled the same day. Unfortunately, instead of giving Trach the prescribed medication, Amoxil, the pharmacist’s assistant on duty filled the prescription with Doxepin. Although [235]*235the prescription called for 40 capsules of 250 milligrams of Amoxil, Trach received instead 29 capsules of 150 milligrams of Doxepin. Trach was told that the pharmacy had only 29 capsules of Amoxil in stock and that he should return in a few days to pick up the rest of his prescription for 40 capsules,

Trach’s prescription called for two pills to bp taken every four hours. He took his first two pills after dinner on July 11. Within an hour or so, he began having strange sensations, including shakiness, dizziness, confusion and headaches. He felt so badly that he had to lie down. When he received a telephone call later in the evening, he had difficulty walking to the telephone and did not feel that he was speaking coherently. After the telephone call, he returned to bed and slept for awhile until his wife awakened him at 11 or 11:30 p.m. to take two more pills. About 1 a.m., he experienced nausea, vomiting, pain in his right eye, difficulty walking, an intoxicated feeling, and a rapid heartbeat. He felt as if he were going to die.

The next day, Wednesday, July 12, Trach did not go to work because he felt so poorly. Instead, he slept most of the day. He awakened only to take his pills; he took two capsules early in the morning, another two capsules at noon, and another two capsules around 3 or 4 o’clock in the afternoon. He continued to experience the same symptoms. Toward the end of the day, Trach’s wife called Dr. Lentz to report her husband’s symptoms. Dr. Lentz told her that he did not believe the medication was causing the symptoms, but that Trach should nevertheless stop taking the pills as a precaution. Acting on Dr. Lentz’s advice, Trach stopped the medication. At that point, he [236]*236had taken only 10 of the 29 pills over a period of two days.

On Thursday, July 13, Trach again did not go to work. He visited South Side Family Medicine, a clinic, where a physician’s assistant, Jeffrey Trexler, saw him. At this time, Trach continued to feel dizzy and lightheaded. Vision in his right eye was slightly blurred. He also noted a yellow-orange, crescent-shaped object in his right eye that partially obscured his field of vision.

On Friday, July 14, Trach did report to work. However, he could not focus on his job and ended up sleeping most of the day at his desk. That night after work, his throat began to feel sore. Consequently, he resumed taking the pills.

The following day, Saturday, July 15, he cut down on his dosage, taking either one pill every four hours or spacing out his doses over periods greater than four hours. Nevertheless, the symptoms he had originally experienced after taking the pills persisted. Moreover, on Sunday, July 16, Trach began to experience occasional hallucinations in addition to his other symptoms. Because of this, he stopped taking the pills. Up to that point, he had taken 23 of the 29 pills. On Monday, July 17, Trach revisited the physician’s assistant, Jeffrey Trexler, at South Side Family Medicine. Trexler ordered blood work and an MRI.

Trach did not take any pills on July 17 or July 18. However, on July 18, he returned to Thrift Drug to pick up the remaining 11 pills that were part of the initial prescription. When he brought these pills home, his wife noticed that they were different from the six pills that remained from his initial supply. She immediately called [237]*237Thrift Drag and questioned the pharmacist, James Fellin, about this. After investigating the matter, Fellin told Mrs. Trach that her husband had been given the wrong medication, Doxepin. Fellin then informed Trexler at South Side Family Medicine what had happened, and Trexler directed Trach to go to Sacred Heart Hospital for some additional tests.

Most of Trach’s symptoms disappeared within a month. However, his vision problems and some cognitive problems have remained. The cognitive problems include difficulty concentrating and an inability to think clearly or to accomplish simple tasks.

On August 4, 1995, approximately three weeks after he first ingested the Doxepin, Trach visited Dr. Mark Moran, an ophthalmologist, regarding his eye problems. Dr. Moran at first was unable to make a definitive diagnosis. However, by March 1996, after consultation with various specialists, Dr. Moran concurred in a diagnosis of glaucoma in Trach’s right eye. Dr. Moran described this as “chronic open-angle glaucoma or even more specifically, pigmentary glaucoma.”2 Trach also has continued to have a crescent-shaped blind spot, known as an arcuate scotoma, in his right eye as a result of optic nerve damage from the glaucoma.

Laser surgery was attempted on Trach in March 1999, to relieve the intraocular pressure in his right eye. However, this surgery could not be completed because of the extreme pain it caused Trach. Trach’s vision problems, according to Dr. Moran, are permanent.

[238]*238Trach has continued working at the same job he held in July 1995, installing and servicing closed-circuit telephone systems for Protect Alarms, an Allentown company.

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