Webster Co. couple sues WVU Board for negligence

MORGANTOWN -- A Webster County couple is suing the WVU Board of Governors after they claims a physician whose medical license was suspended performed a procedure.

On Sept. 28, 2008, Dana F. Clutter presented to Webster County Memorial Hospital's emergency department with acute complaints of worsening right upper quadrant pain and a history of gallstones diagnosed two years prior, according to a complaint filed Oct. 27 in Monongalia Circuit Court.

Clutter claims the physician diagnosed him with acute cholecystitis and transferred him to the defendant for surgery.

On Sept. 29, 2008, Dr. Lisa Marcucci, the WVU attending surgeon who admitted Clutter, formulated a diagnosis that was different from the one the emergency department physician at Webster County Memorial Hospital had found, according to the suit.

Clutter claims Marcucci sought a consult from the hospital's GI service for completion of an ERCP, but disagreed with the recommendation from the department to perform a MRCP before an ERCP and the timing of when the procedure was to be performed, so she instituted plans to transfer him to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

"Upon discovery of Dr. Marcucci's attempts to transfer Mr. Clutter from West Virginia University Hospitals, the attending GI physician...agreed to perform an ERCP on Mr. Clutter the following day," the complaint states.

By the following morning, when the ERCP had not been completed, Marcucci again began efforts to transfer Clutter to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for the ERCP, which caused a "loud argument regarding the need for and timing of the ERCP," between Marcucci and the GI physician, Dr. Uma Sundaram, according to the suit.

Clutter claims at the time he received care from Sundaram, his license to practice medicine on New York was under suspension because he intentionally provided false information to representatives of the Office of Professional Medical Conduct during interviews.

Clutter claims Sundaram practiced medicine with "gross negligence and with negligence on more than one occasion," and that he subjected a patient to an unwarranted procedure and failed to maintain accurate patient records.

The WVU Board of Governors is liable for the negligence and recklessness of its employees, according to the suit.

Clutter and his wife, Wendy Clutter, are seeking compensatory damages. They are being represented by Tony L. O'Dell and Cheryl A. Fisher.

Monongalia Circuit Court case number: 10-C-761