Newsroom

01/24/2006

Widower irate that doctors go unpunished; Misdiagnosis led to $5.4M award at trial

BYJEFF SONDERMAN STAFF WRITER

Two physicians misdiagnosed Maureen Thiel's breast cancer, leading to her death in 1998 and the largest Monroe County jury verdict ever six years later.

The state Board of Medicine, however, is only sending the doctors a warning letter.

With the $5.4 million jury verdict on record, Mrs. Thiel's husband, William C. Thiel of West Pittston, expected the doctors to be disciplined.

The case was closed in November, however, with no license action taken or charges filed against Dr. Pamela J. Foxcroft-Villanyi and Dr. Lawrence Klein.

"I was somewhat in shock," Mr. Thiel said. "These two doctors caused my wife',s death, proven in a trial.”

Dr. Foxcroft-Villanyi left the state for Maryland a few years ago, according to staff at her former office in Stroudsburg. Efforts to reach both doctors were not successful.

In Pennsylvania, all complaints against doctors and other licensed professionals are handled by the Department of State.

Mr. Thiel's complaint was investigated by a Maryland-based consulting firm, FMAS Corp., department spokeswoman Allison Hrestak said.

"They are the ones, through the review, who found it was not in violation," Ms. Hrestak said.

Attempts to reach representatives of FMAS Corp. were not successful Monday.

Mr. Thiel called the review "totally pathetic," and said the company never considered trial evidence or testimony and did not contact any family members.

In fact, the state rarely takes action against doctors as a result of public complaints, according to the Board of Medicine'’s annual report.

In fiscal 2003-04, the board closed 5,453 cases. Of those, only 38 medical licenses were suspended and nine revoked.

Warning letters, as in this case, were issued to 105 doctors that year. In all, 97 percent of complaints resulted in no disciplinary action.

While punishment is rare, the number of complaints filed with the state increased ninefold in three years.

New cases totaled 6,622 in 2003-04, up from only 705 in 2000-01.

Mr. Thiel said he and his lawyer are fighting the decision to let the two doctors off with warning letters.

"We are demanding immediate withdrawal of that review," he said. "We want to know who the review board was, who this consulting company was — what’s their credentials to be an expert?"

A law passed in 2003 has since tweaked the complaint review process, Ms. Hrestak said. The State Department now has a full-time doctor on staff to review medical complaints.

The sting of inaction has brought frustration and sadness to Mr. Thiel and his two sons.

"This just brought up all the wounds that have been healing for seven years," Mr. Thiel said.

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