DISABLED WOMAN AWARDED MILLIONS FOR PRESCRIPTION THAT CAUSED STROKE
By Bernie Weisenfeld
Woodbury--
A Washington Township woman who suffered a stroke in 1996 after taking migraine medication has received a multimillion-dollar jury award against the prescribing physician.
Delores Guida, 49, will receive an undisclosed portion of the $4.5 million in damages a jusy awarded Friday at the end of a 10-day malpractice trial in Gloucester County.
Attorneys for Guida and the Wasington Township osteopathic physician, Herbert Fichman, reached a confidential agreement on damages before the jury's decision, said Guida's lawyer, Gayle Lewis of Cherry Hill.
Guida suffered a stroke and paralysis the day after she took migraine medication newly prescribed by Fichman and another migraine drug she had previously used. Interaction between the medications, Imitrex and Cafergot, was the apparent cause of Guida's stroke, Lewis said.
Neither Fichman nor his attorney, Jay Blumberg of Woodbury, returned phone calls seeking comment Wednesday.
The jury concluded Fichman and Guida were both negligent, assigning 68 percent of liability for damages to Fichman.
Most of the damages awareded by the jury -- $3.2 million -- were for future medical care. Lewis said Guida, who is married and has grown children, is totally disabled. She has regained slight movement on her left side and has limited ability to speak. Lewis called her "one of the bravest women I've ever met."
In lieu of testifying, Guida made a videotape about a year ago describing the day she received the prescription, Lewis said. The jury also saw a video of a typical day of Guida's life at home.
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New Jersey Law Journal February 12, 2001
$4.5M FOR MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
By Charles Toutant
Guida v. Fichman; A Gloucester County jury awarded $4.5 million in damages on Feb. 2 o a Tu nersville woman who uffered a parylizing stroke, allegedly due to interaction between two migraine drugs.
But the plaintiff, Delores Guida, 49, will receive an undisclosed sum because attorneys in the case reached a confidential high-low agreement before the jury deliberated.
Guida sued her doctor, Herbert Fichman of Washington Township, in connection with a stroke that left her paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair, according to her attorney, Cherry Hill solo practitioner Gayle Lewis.
Guida's experts, a neurologist and a pharmacologist, alleged at trial that an interaction between two migraine medications Fichman prescribed, Imitrex and Cafergot, caused the stroke. The defense maintained that the drugs did not cause the stroke, says Lewis.
After a 10-day trial before Judge Donal Smith, the jury found Fichman was 68 percent negligent. The award included $100,000 for past medical expenses, $150,000 for lost wages, $445,000 for future lost wages, and $600,000 for pain and suffering.
The physician was represented by Jay Blumberg of Woodbury's Reynolds, Drake & Blumberg, who did not return calls requesting comment.
