McGilvery & Juliana, LLC
Attorney Juliana’s Major Victories
Major Victories for Attorney Denise Juliana
April 2019 (Montgomery County)
This case involved the alleged failure to diagnose and treat Wilson’s Disease in a 38-year-old female. In 2005, she began treating with my clients (primary care physicians). Over the years, the plaintiff presented with a multitude of symptoms, including anxiety, depression, and tremors. She was referred to 2 neurologists (also defendants), who performed testing but no specific cause of the tremors was ever identified.
By 2010, the plaintiff’s tremors had became so bad she was having problems eating, speaking, writing and getting dressed, and had to stop working. She went to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and was eventually diagnosed with Wilson’s Disease, a disease process that affects one’s ability to get rid of excess copper. She began treatment and improved but claimed permanent cognitive deficits.
Plaintiff claimed that the family physicians and neurology defendants were negligent in not performing a simple blood test which would have revealed her elevated copper levels. The defense was that this was a very rare disease and it would not be within the realm of a family physician’s fund of knowledge to make this diagnosis and they referred the plaintiff to the appropriate specialists.
The jury returned a verdict in favor of all defendants.
January 2018 (Lancaster County)
A 47-year-old woman underwent a CT scan with contrast dye. During the CT scan, she suffered anaphylactic shock and stopped breathing. In order to revive her, the defendant doctor administered 3 doses of epinephrine. After the third dose, the plaintiff began breathing on her own. She was then taken by ambulance to the emergency room where she was diagnosed with a heart attack.
The plaintiff sued alleging that the defendant doctor administered an excessive amount of epinephrine which resulted in her having a myocardial infarction. She claimed ongoing injuries including permanent cardiac damage and depression. The plaintiff’s expert cited medical literature which stated that the amount and concentration of the epinephrine the defendant administered was excessive.
We argued that the amount of epinephrine that was given was appropriate and necessary in order to save the plaintiff’s life. The jury found the defendant doctor was not negligent.
2011 (Philadelphia County)
51-year old African American male with a known history of cirrhosis of the liver secondary to alcohol abuse and Hepatitis C presented to the hospital after vomiting blood. He was admitted to the intensive care unit where he came under the care of my client, a house physician, and was treated with replacement of blood products and IV fluids and gastroenterology, pulmonology and surgery were consulted. The plaintiff subsequently started to bleed again, and the defendants were unable to stop it. The patient died and left behind a wife and 2 young children.
Plaintiff criticized my client for not obtaining the gastroenterology consult on a STAT basis (it was the middle of the night). Criticisms against the co-defendants included the failure to perform an endoscopy and the delay in transfusing blood products.
Although the jury found against some of the defendants and awarded over $1 million to the plaintiff, my client was found to be not negligent.
2010 (Philadelphia County)
The plaintiff underwent a mammogram the results of which were high suspicious for cancer. The defendant doctor, (the plaintiff’s family physician), received the results and claimed he called the plaintiff to inform her that she should come to the office so he could refer her to a surgeon. The plaintiff claimed she was never called with these results.
A year later, the plaintiff presented to the defendant’s office at which time a mass was palpated and she was subsequently diagnosed with cancer. The plaintiff claimed a delay in diagnosing her breast cancer, as a result of which she had to undergo a mastectomy, radiation, and chemotherapy.
The first trial ended in a mistrial because of the plaintiff’s outburst during trial (she screamed from counsel’s table that the defendant was a liar). The second trial resulted in a verdict for the defense.
2003 (Delaware County)
This matter involved the death of a 28-year-old from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy.
The plaintiff alleges that the defendants were negligent in failing to diagnose the plaintiff’s ectopic pregnancy when she presented to the emergency room with complaints of vaginal spotting and severe lower abdominal cramping. My client, an obstetrician-gynecologist, was consulted by telephone but never saw the patient. An ultrasound was performed and was interpreted by the defendant radiologist as revealing as a 6-week old intrauterine pregnancy. The patient was discharged from the hospital with instructions to follow up with the defendant ob-gyn.
Later that evening, the plaintiff’s decedent collapsed. EMS responded and cardiopulmonary resuscitation was initiated. Resuscitation attempts continued at the emergency department of but were ultimately unsuccessful.
An autopsy was performed which determined the cause of death to be exsanguinating hemorrhage from a ruptured left tubal ectopic pregnancy. The uterus did not contain any pregnancy.
A jury trial resulted in a verdict for the defendants.
2002 (Montgomery County)
This case involved the death of a newborn. The plaintiffs claimed that the defendants failed to diagnose and treat the mother-plaintiff’s intrauterine infection, and failed to deliver her, after an ultrasound showed intrauterine growth retardation, and non-stress tests revealed decelerations of the fetal heartbeat. The baby was subsequently delivered via c-section after the mom went into labor. Apgar scores were 0, 0, and 5, and the baby was transported to CHOP, where she died from sepsis. The plaintiff claimed over $1 million in lost earning capacity.
I represented the defendant obstetrician who claimed that there was no indication to deliver this infant any earlier. The jury found in favor of all the defendants.
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