Case Results

$2.2 Million Settlement for Negligent Ordering and Filling of Prescription
Our client was the wife of an 80-year old man who suffered from arthritis. For this condition his personal physician prescribed him Methotrexate-2.5 mg to be taken twice daily. The proper way to prescribe the drug Methotrexate for arthritis is for it to be taken once a week. After taking the medication for 10 straight days, our client’s husband suffered a severe overdose of Methotrexate and was hospitalized. He survived for 10 days in the hospital, where he suffered from two episodes of aspiration and died. He was required to be terminally weaned from a respirator once the doctors had concluded he had no reasonable chance of regaining consciousness and surviving. The doctor who negligently ordered the prescription and the pharmacy that negligently filled the overdose prescription both contributed to the $2.2 million settlement. The case was set for trial in St. Louis City Circuit Court and settled the week before trial. The name of the pharmacy was withheld from publication as part of the settlement. Mildred J. Beamon, Personal Representative of the Estate of John E. Beamon, and Mildred J. Beamon Individually v. Pharmacy and Alexander Rudoi, M.D.

Edward Kruse Recovers on a Novel Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Restaurant over Heart Attack Victim
We represented the plaintiffs, who were the family of a man who died of a heart attack in a restaurant in the City of St. Louis. The family sued the restaurant and the restaurant manager for interference in an attempt to rescue. The manager hung up the telephone on an emergency 911 call being made by the bartender to call for help. It was unclear why the manager would want to do that, but the firm took quick action, filed suit and subpoenaed the 911 telephone call tape from the police department and the manager’s voice could be heard yelling to the bartender to hang up the telephone call. Shortly after his voice was heard, the phone call was abruptly terminated. After many of the restaurant employees were subpoenaed for testimony and all of them claimed they were not aware of what happened, one of the bartenders testified in her deposition that she could identify the manager’s voice on the tape and did see the manager hang up the telephone call knowing it was a call for emergency assistance. On behalf of the man’s family, our firm pursued the theory that the resulting delay in the arrival of the medical care caused or contributed to the man’s death.

Negligent interference with an attempt to rescue had never been recognized previously by the Missouri Courts, but Mr. Kruse pursued the claim under general Tort Law, which proved a viable cause of action under the facts of the case. Preserving the evidence of the 911 tape early was extremely important the case and very damaging to the defendants because of the foul language used by the manager when yelling at the bartender to hang up the telephone. The witnesses at the bar were apparently reluctant to come forth and testify, most likely for the fear they would be retaliated against. Gina Shad, Personal Representative of the Estate of Richard Farhat v. Carbos Restaurant and Dan Martorelli.