The children of a 52-year-old Berks County woman who died after her bleeding ulcer was misdiagnosed have been awarded $4.35 million in a wrongful death verdict.
The civil suit was brought by Evan and Hayley Jones, the adult children of Kelly Lynn Jones, against Dr. Robert Cooper and Digestive Disease Associates.
According to court documents:
Kelly Lynn Jones went to an urgent care center on Oct. 13, 2021, complaining of severe abdominal pain. She was sent to an emergency room where a doctor recognized that she needed to be seen by a gastroenterologist for potential bleeding.
She was seen by Cooper the next morning.
Cooper did not diagnose the bleed, instead attributing her pain to multiple myeloma, a cancer affecting bone marrow.
Despite her medical history and subsequent lab results that did indicate a bleeding ulcer, Kelly Lynn Jones’ diagnosis was not reassessed. She was discharged from the hospital on Oct. 16, 2021.
A week later, she was found at her home by her son barely responsive. She was rushed to a hospital with hemorrhagic shock from a bleeding ulcer.
The ulcer was treated at the hospital, but Kelly Lynn Jones had suffered a significant anoxic injury from it. She died two weeks later.
The attorneys — David Inscho and Mark Fuchs of Kline & Specter — representing her children said they were pleased by the verdict, which was handed down Sept. 18 following a five-day trial in front of Berks County Judge Madelyn S. Fudeman.
“We are grateful that the jury held the gastroenterologist accountable for failing to properly treat Ms. Jones and that they recognized the significant loss suffered by our clients from the untimely and unnecessary death of their mother,” the attorneys said in a written statement.
Attorneys for the defendants were not immediately available for comment.