WHEELING – The estate of a Brooke County woman blames a doctor and Wheeling Hospital for her death following a heart catheterization.
Herbert L. Hupp, the husband and executor of the estate of Jacquelyn A. Hupp, filed an amended complaint January 6 in Ohio Circuit Court against Dr. Gregory A. Suero-Abreu and Wheeling Hospital Inc. Suero-Abreu was an inverventional cardiologist at Wheeling Hospital. The case originally was filed in 2020.
According to the complaint, Jacquelyn Hupp went to Suero-Abreu first in February 2019 following the retirement of her former cardiologist. She had a surgical history including bypass surgeries and a catheterization. She also had hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease, bypass graft disease, peripheral artery disease and hyperlipidemia.
He ordered a nuclear stress test for her, and it was performed March 26, 2019. It showed no ischemia. He recommended a heart catheterization for her, but Hupp and her family were not informed of her high clinical risk, her high-risk coronary anatomy and her other treatment options.
During his heart catheterization of Hupp on April 10, 2019, Suero-Abreu found a high-risk circumflex lesion. The complaint says addressing this lesion “is not a routine low-risk procedure by clinical or anatomic features.”
It also says Suero-Abreu did not have an informed consent discussion with Hupp prior to going forward with the percutaneous coronary intervention on the lesion.
“Suero-Abreu made the decision to go forward with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) on the high-risk circumflex lesion without consultation with Ms. Hupp (as he previously planned) nor with her family,” the complaint states. “Numerous unsuccessful attempts were made to address the high-risk circumflex lesion which involved the use of different wires. These attempts failed.”
The complaint says the doctor dissected an artery. When Hupp became hypotensive, he inserted a balloon pump to stabilize her blood pressure.
After the dissection, Suero-Abreu left town for a medical conference while Hupp was in ICU. The complaint says he did not discuss nor institute a treatment plan for her before leaving town. His partner, Dr. Tristan Smith, covered for him while he was gone.
In his deposition, Smith disclaimed any responsibility or knowledge of the decision to remove the balloon pump.
Another doctor, Victor Maevsky, began weaning Hupp from the pump on April 11, 2019. When he removed it around 12:10 p.m., Hupp became hypotensive and diaphoretic.
“While Dr. Maevsky was present and knew of Ms. Hupp’s condition, he simply passed the patient off to Dr. Smith, who was performing procedures in the Wheeling Hospital Catheterization Lab,” the complaint states. “Ms. Hupp’s decompensation immediately after removal of the IABP was a medical emergency.”
Notes show Smith didn’t see Hupp for more than an hour after the pump was removed. About 30 minutes later, a physician’s assistant was told Hupp was not improving and was lethargic, begging for help and saying she couldn’t breathe.
She coded at 2:35 p.m. and was resuscitated. Attempts were made to move her to another facility, but her perfusion was too poor. Maevsky tried other options, but they didn’t work. Hupp died April 11, 2019.
Hupp’s husband accuses Suero-Abreu of negligence. He also accuses Smith and Maevsky of negligence as employees of Wheeling Hospital, and he accuses the hospital of vicarious liability.
He seeks compensatory damages, pre- and post-judgment interest and other relief.
The defendants responded to the original complaint, but have not had time to respond to the amended complaint that provided more details about Hupp’s time at the hospital.
Hupp is being represented by R. Dean Hartley and Mark R. Staun of Hartley Law Group in Wheeling. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Michael J. Olejasz.
Ohio Circuit Court case number 20-C-249