Cardiologist faces suit

An Odessa family has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a prominent Odessa cardiologist, claiming he fatally punctured an elderly woman’s artery as he attempted to place a stent in it.

The lawsuit, filed last month by the family of 81-year-old Ofelia Hinojos, accuses Dr. Suresh N. Gadasalli of botching the procedure and failing to take corrective action after staff alerted him to the problem.

"A competent interventional cardiologist performing this procedure should be able to recognize that is occurring and be prepared to take immediate corrective action," the lawsuit claims.

Jeffery Mundy, an Austin attorney who filed suit on behalf of the Hinojos family, said in an e-mail message that the lawsuit was "a decision of last resort for this family."

Mundy said lawsuits like this one put families in emotional turmoil. He noted that medical malpractice suits brought against doctors in Texas are capped to a maximum recovery of $250,000 from one defendant.

"Bringing this case carries with it the emotional burden of reliving their mother’s death," Mundy said.

Gadasalli, the director of the Healthy Heart Center in Odessa, referred a request for comment to James K. McClendon, an Austin attorney who represented Gadasalli last year when Hinojos’ case came before the Texas Medical Board for possible disciplinary action.

"Dr. Gadasalli feels confident that a jury will conclude, just as the Medical Board did, that this was an unfortunate complication that can occur in these type procedures," McClendon said in an e-mail message. "The evidence at trial showed that Dr. Gadasalli’s complication rate was far below the average complication rate of other interventional cardiologists across the state. Dr. Gadasalli grieves for the family’s loss, but simply put, it was not his, nor anyone else’s fault."

Over the years, Gadasalli has developed a reputation as one of the leading cardiologists in the Permian Basin. In 2005, Gadasalli and Dr. Sudhir Srivastava performed the world’s first simultaneous hybrid revascularization, a two-technique procedure in which a coronary artery bypass and a stent placement are performed in the same session.

"If anything, Dr. Gadasalli’s reputation and past accomplishments make this death even more tragic," Mundy said. "According to the testimony of the staff, he could have, and should have, recognized the situation as it developed and taken corrective action."

According to the lawsuit, Hinojos, a 50-year resident of Odessa, went to the doctor in early August 2008 after complaining of shortness of breath and pressure in her chest. Gadasalli reportedly attempted to place a stent in her artery after an angiogram detected blockage in the coronary artery.

But at some point during the procedure, the stent punctured a blood vessel and blood began filling the pericardium — a double-walled sac that contains the heart — resulting in a cardiac tamponade, the lawsuit claims. The suit further alleges Gadasalli "failed to take corrective measures."

"She literally drowned in her own blood," the suit claims.

McClendon rejected as "100 percent false" the notion that Gadasalli was alerted to any complication during the procedure, noting that three other people in the room "testified or provided sworn testimony that they did not notice any complication during the procedure."

In April 2009, the Texas Medical Board considered an application to suspend temporarily Gadasalli’s medical license. After hearing testimony, a disciplinary panel decided not to suspend his license, determining that Gadasalli did not represent "a continuing threat to the public."

McClendon said the trial lasted more than eight hours and that three physician members of the medical board "entered no adverse findings regarding Dr. Gadasalli’s care for Mrs. Hinojos."

"In fact, they deliberated for less than five minutes in reaching this conclusion," McClendon said. "The recently filed lawsuit is a re-hash of the allegations that the Texas Medical Board completely rejected. It is disappointing that the Hinojos family does not respect the decision of the Texas Medical Board."

The board did, however, issue an order concerning the doctor’s "interpersonal communication difficulties with hospital staff." Gadasalli was fined $10,000 and required to take five hours of continuing medical education and pass the medical jurisprudence examination.

"You got yourself into this jam because the people that work for you are intimidated by you," Dr. George Willeford III remarked at the end of the disciplinary hearing, according to excerpts of a transcript included in the lawsuit. "And if they had not been intimidated by you, the two or three people in the room that saw the perforation would have felt comfortable coming up and saying, ‘You might ought to look again.’ "

"Someone here said you are like a star athlete that has great skills, but you are difficult to be around," Willeford added. "Don’t waste those talents because it could cost you dearly."