‘Flabbergasting.’ SRHS let doctor misdiagnose woman for years despite warnings, judge rules
A judge Friday called the evidence overwhelming when he found Singing River Health System acted with gross negligence when it failed to protect a Jackson County woman repeatedly misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
Special Judge James Bell said the way in which SRHS reacted to over 10 years of reports of former neurologist Dr. Terry Millette misdiagnosing and treating patients for the the disease they never had was “flabbergasting.”
The judge made those statements and more before he awarded Jackson County resident Christine Tingle and her husband $499,169 for the years she underwent repeated treatments for a debilitating disease she never had.
The very reason SRHS exists, the judge said, “is to provide care.”
“If it’s not going to do that, what purpose does it have?” the judge said. “So, before Dr. Millette was hired, the record before the court is that he did have patients at Singing River Hospital from time to time that were covered by other neurologists who complained that it appeared to them that he was diagnosing people with MS who didn’t have it and giving them treatment for MS, who didn’t have it, and they complained to the administration about that.
“And then, when it became evident that they wanted to hire him, the physicians complained, ‘we don’t want to be part of this.’ And they hired him. And then we’ve heard testimony that complaints were made to three, four, maybe five administrative officials several times a year. And nothing happened.”
The judge said he never a saw a case more suited for additional punitive damages, but that wasn’t an option in this case.
“I never saw one worse than this,” he said.
The trial
Tingle sued SRHS and Millette and went to trial in Jackson County this week. Millette had already admitted negligence and settled his part of the lawsuit with her before the trial.
Millette was beloved neurologist in Jackson County for years. He became a contract employee for SRHS in 2011 and joined SRHS full-time four years later.
Other neurologists said SRHS kept him on despite their warnings about him misdiagnosing patients because SRHS officials told them Millette was generating $1.5 million a year just from his infusion treatments.
But SRHS finally cuts ties with Millette in 2016 when the three neurologists put their complaints in writing, despite their verbal complaints for over 10 years before that.
SRHS ended its contract with Millette and shut down his office 2016, but Millette briefly opened a private practice after an outcry from patients. He shut the doors of that office as more and more lawsuits mounted against him.
‘The hospital knew’
Tingle is one of more than 20 others who have sued SRHS and Millette for his negligence and treatment for a disease they didn’t have.
At the jury trial, Tingle cried when she testified and told the judge how she suffered emotionally and physically after Millette misdiagnosed her in 2011.
At the time, Millette was a contract worker with SRHS, but he continued to treat her when he went to work full-time for the hospital.
Throughout her treatment, she was prescribed an assortment of costly medications with severe side effects.
Tingle wept as she recalled sitting in Millette’s infusion center in Jackson County day after day while they hooked her up for infusions she thought was helping battle the disease.
For nearly five years, Tingle and her husband racked up costly medical bills. Their personal and emotional relationship suffered, she said.
During testimony, SRHS suggested Tingle wasn’t suffering because they captured pictures of her playing tennis and noted she had even been treated for tennis injury over the years.
They also pointed out she had never suffered in her professional life because she continued to receive promotions and pay increases over the years.
But Tingle cried as she explained what it felt like when she sat in a room at Millette’s office for the infusions.
“For 5 1/2 years, I thought I had it,” she said as she cried. “For 4 1/2 years, I sat in a chair in an infusion room and let them cut me, which would take two or three times sometimes before they could get it all hooked, and I watched people come in an out (in wheelchairs) ... and I wondered when is that going to be me?”
“And to know the hospital knew before I was ever diagnosed, there was a concern from other doctors.”
“Had they confronted Dr. Millette and done anything about it, I would have never had to go through any of it,” Tingle said, before she left the witness chair in the Jackson County courtroom.
A judge’s admonishment
The judge said, “The burden of proof is just by a preponderance of the evidence, but the proof in this case is beyond a reasonable doubt. There’s absolutely no question but that Singing River Hospital is liable. The proof in this case is extraordinary.”
Bell even noted what SRHS could have done when it was first warned about the misdiagnosis of MS patients.
He said SRHS could have immediately put Tingle and the other patients on notice.
“And this does not require specialized training, doesn’t require an expert, this is common sense in the realm of ordinary responsibility that any human being has to another human being,” Bell said. “It’s part of the common law of the English-speaking world, this responsibility. It’s a responsibility that has existed for centuries and the responsibility that brought order out of the chaos of the dark ages that we owe to other members of society and that Singing River owes to people.
“When Singing River knows there’s a danger, has notice of a danger, and they know that treating people who don’t have MS with MS drugs is dangerous...” Bell said. “Wow.”
One of Tingle’s attorneys, Tim Holleman, said he was pleased with the verdict. He commended the rest of his legal team: Walter Morrison, Brittany Wolf and Hollis Holleman.
“We are happy today that the Court agreed with us that the conduct of Singing River Hospital in these cases was terribly wrong and so wrong, that, if available, the Court would have awarded punitive damages,” Holleman said.
“We hope that SRHS will take Judge Bell’s admonitions to heart, address our clients claims fairly, and more importantly prevent this type of travesty from happening again,” he said.
This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 7:37 PM.
