Civil suit claims WVU Medicine physicians' oversight led to woman's disfigured arm

May 16—FAIRMONT — A Marion County woman has accused two doctors employed by West Virginia University School of Medicine of leaving her arm deformed after she sought treatment at WVU Medicine Fairmont Medical Center for a wound caused by a rollover accident.

Haley Biggs, through her attorney, Travis Prince, filed the lawsuit in Marion County Court against the West Virginia University Board of Governors and related parties.

The lawsuit alleges two doctors, Scott Meester and Peter Christiano, failed to account for infection after Biggs repeatedly went to Fairmont Medical Center complaining of pain and seepage from her arm after the puncture wound had been treated. Hospital staff eventually transferred Biggs to WVU J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital after Biggs returned to Fairmont Medical Center one final time Jan. 30, 2022.

"Mrs. Biggs was diagnosed with sepsis and a necrotizing soft tissue infection while hospitalized at WVU Ruby Memorial Hospital," the lawsuit states. The filing then gives a definition of sepsis before continuing. "On Jan. 30, 2022, Mrs. Biggs underwent surgery to open, irrigate and drain the infected area of her arm. The surgery was extensive and the resulting open wound was horrific."

Initially, Fairmont Medical Center admitted Biggs on Jan. 23, 2022. The lawsuit states the rollover accident happened in a wooded area, leaving a high risk of infection. Meester ordered a tetanus injection and sealed the wound with glue, discharging Biggs the same day. The lawsuit alleges Meester did not order any antibiotic to prevent infection. His discharge instructions told Biggs to return to the Emergency Room if her symptoms worsened.

Biggs returned two days later, where she was seen by Christiano. The lawsuit alleges Christiano ignored Biggs' complaints of increasing pain, drainage and fever, and instead treated her instead for potential compartment syndrome and ordered a CT scan of her right arm. He ordered oxycodone for the pain.

"Treating a patient with a narcotic like oxycodone — a powerful narcotic that will only mask pain — without determining its cause is reckless," the lawsuit states.

Also, the CT scan confirmed swelling, another symptom of infection. The lawsuit states Christiano at no point considered infection as the cause of Biggs' worsening pain, fever and drainage. Instead, he called for an orthopedic consultation, which was declined because there were no fractures in the arm. The lawsuit pointed out that at no point were any of the 26 specialists in infectious disease called to consult. At discharge, Christiano agreed drainage and pain were signs of infection, but "completely ignored those symptoms were the reasons Mrs. Biggs sought treatment."

He also failed to prescribe an antibiotic.

Finally, Biggs received surgery on Jan. 30 for the infection, which had turned to sepsis. Photos included with the filing show Biggs was left with a massive open wound that took up most of her upper arm, which required continuous suction for 24 hours a day for six days.

Biggs alleges that the negligence she encountered on the part of Meester and Christiano left her arm permanently disfigured. She seeks compensatory and punitive damages.

Biggs' filing includes one significant detail. In West Virginia, a claimant can't recover more in damages than a state agent needs to maintain insurance coverage for. That amount is set by state law at $750,000. State agents include state employees, such as the governor, or state agencies, such as the WVU Board of Governors.

As employees of West Virginia School of Medicine, Meesters and Christiano qualify as state agents, even if they were practicing at a WVU Medicine facility. WVU Medicine is a separate, corporate entity from WVU School of Medicine. The school is overseen by the board. Because of the law protecting state agents, Biggs can't recover more than $750,000 despite suffering the injury for the rest of her life.

The filing adds that the WVU Board of Governors pays one football coach $4 million annually.

The West Virginia Board of Governors, Meester and Christiano filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Their attorney, Timothy R. Linkous, cited case and state law protecting state agencies, such as WVU Board of Governors and their agents, from lawsuits. The filing also states that Biggs violated West Virginia law by not limiting how much she sought against the hospital system's insurance limits.

"The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia specifically held that only suits which limit recovery up to the amount of insurance shall be permitted to proceed," the response filing states.

Most of the claims made in the response are related to liability insurance limits in some way. The filing also claims Meester and Christiano are entitled to qualified immunity from personal liability for health care they provided because they are state employees acting within the scope of their employment at the hospital and because they did not violate any laws.

The response filing also moved to strike portion's of the plaintiff's complaint, accusing those portions of being redundant, immaterial, impertinent or scandalous. It claims the allegations could never have relevancy or evidentiary application in the case, and violate the rules of civil procedure.

The motion to strike points out Biggs did not keep her complaints to simple, concise and direct statements, violating rules governing how complaints should be composed. The motion provided case law backing up its arguments in this regard. The portions of Biggs' complaint that the motion sought to strike would remove the circumstances which brought Biggs to bring a suit against the WVU Board of Governors from her filing. The response also argued that several portions of the complaint have nothing to do with a claim of medical negligence. As far as the football comparison, the response filing argued the money a football coach makes has nothing to do with damages.

"The only conclusion one can be left with is that such allegations are included for an improper purpose — such as inflaming passions or to catch the attention of the media," the response states.

Biggs' attorney, Prince joined by Ryan Umina, filed a response to the motion to dismiss and motion to strike.

"Defendants are clearly embarrassed by their care and treatment of Plaintiff — as they should be," Prince and Umina wrote. "However, Defendants' bare desire to avoid this embarrassment cannot alone be the basis for deleting allegations or placing a fairly-pled Complaint under seal."

Prince and Umina accused the WVU Board of Governors of attempting to use the court to censor the allegations.

As far as the nitpicking of Biggs' claim, they argued the rules the school invokes are meant to make filing easier for plaintiffs, and there is no upper limit on how long a claim has to be. They also pointed out motions to strike are only used in the most extreme circumstances to preserve justice, and are rarely granted. The Board of Governors nonetheless requested 45 paragraphs be removed. Prince and Umina said the rules regulating the ability to strike content from a filing aren't meant to be used as a carving knife to make a lawsuit sting less to the defendant.

Marion County Circuit Court Judge Patrick Wilson held a hearing on the motion April 23. The court took the motion to strike under advisement. No follow-up court date has been scheduled yet.

Reach Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com