Lawsuit over flesh-eating bacteria ends with millions and grief for Sicklerville family
CAMDEN – A South Jersey family has won a $2 million judgment for a loved one’s death from complications caused by flesh-eating bacteria.The husband and three adult children of Adrienne Nock claimed in a lawsuit that the 54-year-old woman died in a hospital due to a delay in undergoing orthopedic surgery in March 2017.Their six-year court fight ended when a jury last month found liability for the surgeon, Dr. Jeffrey Kovacs, and his employer, Reconstructive Orthopedics.“It’s easy to get inspired by the Nock family, who was truly devoted to getting justice in this case,” said attorney Steven G. Wigrizer, who represented the Franklinville woman’s survivors.
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“And it's important to remember that Adrienne Nock was truly a champion for victims herself,” he said.
The attorney told jurors that Nock, a client-benefits specialist-advocate for a social services agency, suffered “a potentially preventable death.”
A jury initially awarded $3 million to the Nock family, but that was reduced to $2 million by Superior Court Judge Judith Charny in a Feb. 23 ruling.
She also ordered the defendants to pay more than $350,000 in pre-judgment interest.
Adrienne Nock sought help at Turnersville hospital
According to the suit, Nock initially sought treatment for lower back pain on Feb.28, 2017, at then Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Washington Township.She returned with worsening symptoms on the morning of March 2, and a doctor shortly after 3 p.m. said Nock should be taken to the operating room “without delay.”Surgery was urgently needed to address necrotizing fasciitis, “the often fatal disease commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria,” said a statement from Wigrizer’s firm, Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky of Philadelphia.But the operation to address the bacteria on a bone in Nock’s arm did not begin until 6:31 p.m., the suit says.It says Nock had a heart attack, lapsed into a coma and died in the hospital the next morning “as a result of presumed overwhelming toxic shock syndrome.”The jury reached its decision after a two-month trial and two days of deliberations.Tyrone Nock, Adrienne’s husband, brought the suit and “fought for his wife all through this process,” said Wigrizer.The Nock family continues “to live this nightmare of unspeakable loss,” the husband said in a statement released by his lawyers.
Tyrone Nock said family members also “pray something good can come from the searing pain and suffering that extends well beyond our family and friends, but to all those touched by my lifelong sweetheart.”Jim Walsh is a senior reporter for the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email: Jwalsh@cpsj.com.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Lawsuit's claim: Doctor waited too long to operate on Adrienne Nock
