SC heart clinic ‘negligent’ in man’s death, jury says

A Richland County civil jury took just three hours recently to deliver a $2 million verdict against a local heart clinic, finding it was “grossly negligent” in not doing more to quickly notify a patient that he had a potentially dangerous heart condition after a heart stress test.

The patient, Wayne Reynolds, 66, of Lexington County, died about a week later of heart failure.

The jury cut the $2 million award to $1.5 million, deciding that Reynolds bore 25 percent of the responsibility for his own death, according to court records.

At the trial, defendants put up evidence indicating that Reynolds was a smoker, should have been more assertive in taking care of himself and should have tried harder to learn his last heart test results, even though he wasn’t promptly told.

While ruling against the S.C. Heart Center, the jury also ruled in favor of cardiologist Norma Khoury, who was named as a co-defendant in the case.

Both Khoury and the Heart Center had denied any responsibility for Reynolds’ death.

“The South Carolina Heart Center P.A. has long been dedicated to providing the finest cardiovascular care to the citizens of South Carolina,” Gary Lovell, an attorney for the Heart Center, said in a statement last week. “The dedicated doctors and staff have an exemplary record of excellence in treatment. Although we cannot comment on the specific actions that will be taken by our legal counsel in seeking a review of this verdict for fairness, we express our sympathy to the patient’s family over their loss, and our confidence in the legal system.”

S.C. Heart Center is described in the suit as a business operating in South Carolina as Providence Cardiology LLC. It has multiple locations in the Midlands.

Rob Ransom, attorney for Reynolds’ widow, Sarah Reynolds, who filed the lawsuit, said the jury took just three hours to deliver its verdict. “The takeaway of this verdict is – for both patients and medical health care providers – that it is never safe to assume anything,” Ransom said.

“If you are the patient, you need to be persistent in pestering health care providers for test results, and if you are the provider, you shouldn’t assume that somebody else is going to break the news to the patient,” Ransom said.

Lynn Bailey, a Columbia health care economic consultant, agreed.

“The verdict does not surprise me,” Bailey said. “Patients can’t assume the health care system will work like they want it to. Patients have to manage their own health care and pay attention to detail. The sad part is, most people don’t know that they have to do it.”

A heart stress test given Reynolds on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, 2011, was “highly suggestive” of serious coronary heart disease that needed prompt attention, according to Ransom and the lawsuit.

Several days later, Reynolds began experiencing pains indicating a possible heart problem. On Nov. 8, 2011, he went to the Palmetto Health Richland emergency room, where he was diagnosed as having suffered a heart attack, according to the suit. Three of his major heart arteries had a 95 percent blockage, Ransom said.

Reynolds, who had four adult children and one grandchild, died the next day at the hospital, on Nov. 9, 2011.

“Had he been informed of the condition of his heart, Mr. Reynolds most probably would have recognized the symptoms of a developing cardiac event and would therefore have immediately sought medical attention, which most probably would have saved his life,” wrote Dr. Robert Stark, an expert witness for the plaintiff, in an affidavit.

Reynolds was in the real estate business and evidence showed he was in the midst of several ongoing potentially profitable deals that fell apart soon after he died, Ransom said. “His entire real estate empire collapsed and he lost everything,” Ransom said.

The jury ruled March 20, with Circuit Judge Alison Lee presiding.

This story was originally published March 29, 2015 at 6:46 PM.