BECKLEY – A Raleigh County jury has awarded nearly $850,000 to the estate of a man following an eight-day medical negligence civil trial.
Frederick Sean Bailey presented to Raleigh General Hospital’s emergency department on May 20, 2018, complaining of fever and shortness of breath after he had been sent there following a visit to MedExpress. He demonstrated low oxygen saturation levels and was diagnosed with pneumonia.
Physician assistant Aaron Cobb was assigned to Bailey. His estate claimed Cobb was negligent for failing to order blood work, a chest x-ray and a second set of vitals. Bailey was discharged with antibiotics, but he died 33 hours later from sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome and respiratory distress. He was 43, and he left behind two children.
Salango
“This was a clear case of medical negligence that cost Mr. Bailey his life,” attorney Ben Salango told The West Virginia Record. “We’re pleased that a jury held the defendants accountable and gave this family closure.”
The jury found Cobb deviated from the accepted standard of care and found that was a proximate cause of Bailey’s death. The estate was awarded $498,065 in economic damages and $350,000 in non-economic damages. The jury found Cobb 80 percent at fault and Raleigh General at 20 percent fault.
Two defense expert witnesses – Stephen Kapa, PA-C and Dr. Robert Aris – testified that Cobb did a satisfactory evaluation of Bailey and that earlier treatment would not have saved his life.
But, Bailey’s attorneys showed Aris, a pulmonologist, had testified falsely about his credentials and that he had been publicly reprimanded by the North Carolina Board of Medicine for treating patients while under the influence of alcohol. They also showed Aris’ hospital privileges had been suspended in 2019 and that he had misrepresented his current licensure status. His medical license is no longer active, and he retired as a professor at the University of North Carolina despite his testimony to the contrary.
Bailey’s estate was represented by Salango and Christian Huffman of Salango Law in Charleston. Cobb was represented by Barry Taylor and Jason Bowles of Jenkins Fenstermaker in Huntington.
Raleigh Circuit Court case number 20-C-224
