Heart damage alleged

Lawsuit: Misplaced catheter
caused woman’s death

By David Baker
Posted November 21, 2014
205 words

The estate of a woman who died one day after her heart allegedly was cut by a catheter that was intended to drain fluid from around her left lung is suing two doctors, a nurse and Albany Medical Center Hospital.

Ruth A. Cancilla of Troy died in the hospital at the age of 69.

Named in the complaint are physicians Meridith Englander and Lawrence Keating, and a family nurse practitioner, Christopher Doti,. Also named is Community Care Physicians, a medical practice based in Latham.

According to the complaint “…when said procedure for the placement of the pleural catheter was performed on March 29, 2012, the needle was not placed into the pleural space but was placed into the pericardial space.” As a result, the suit says, Cancilla’s heart was punctured, causing her death.

The lawsuit demands unspecified compensatory damages for wrongful death, medical malpractice and negligence. It was filed in January 2014 by the law firm Martin, Harding and Mazzotti.

Representing the defendants are the Albany firms Carter, Conboy, Case, Blackmore, Maloney & Laird, and Maynard, O’Connor, Smith & Catalinotto.

A search of Capital District newspaper archives produced only an obituary notice, which says Ruth Cancilla died “suddenly” on March 30, 2012.

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