HUNTINGTON — Three Rivers Medical Clinics says it is not responsible for medical negligence claims made against it in a federal lawsuit.
"Plaintiff’s Complaint may be barred by the statute of limitations, if applicable, and this defendant asserts the same as an affirmative defense should it later prove applicable herein," the answer states.
Three Rivers claims the plaintiff’s injuries and damages, if any, were the proximate result of natural disease processes, accidental injuries, and/or illnesses and not the negligence of the defendant.
The defendant argues that the injuries and damages the plaintiff suffered were a result of negligence from persons, firms or corporations other than the defendant, according to the answer.
The defendant wants the complaint to be dismissed.
Alvis Stacy filed the lawsuit against Three Rivers Medical Clinics in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. Stacy claims between June 24, 2013, and Aug. 27, 2019, on at least 10 occasions, they marked his smoking status as "never smoker" even though he smoked for 28 years before quitting 28 years prior.
Stacy had a two-pack-per-day habit when he was a smoker and since 2014, a patient with a 60-pack-per-year smoking history must be screened annually for lung cancer, but he was never screened.
On Oct. 30, 2019, he had a CT scan that showed Stage IIIB lung cancer with a 9% survival rate, according to the suit.
"Defendant Three Rivers Medical Clinics, Inc. owed a duty to Mr. Stacy to skillfully, prudently, and thoroughly diagnose, care, treat, advise, and observe him in such a manner as would a reasonably prudent healthcare provider who was confronted with the same or similar conditions and circumstances," the complaint states.
Stacy claims Three Rivers failed to properly treat, evaluate, and monitor his conditions beginning on March 8, 2018, which created a situation where injury was clearly foreseeable as a result of its negligent conduct.
Stacy is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. He is represented by Benjamin D. Adams and L. Dante diTrapano if Calwell Luce diTrapano in Charleston.
Three Rivers is represented by W.E. Sam Fox II of Flaherty Sensabaugh Bonasso in Charleston.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number: 2:21-cv-00489
