$4.2 million deal reached in malpractice lawsuit

A $4.2 million settlement has been reached in a medical malpractice lawsuit by the family of a 32-year-old Nanakuli man who went to the emergency room with a sore throat and died.

Antonio Marrero died after a doctor performed an unnecessary procedure, according to the family’s attorney.

Marrero should have been sent directly to an ear, nose and throat specialist, attorney Richard Fried, who represents the Marrero family, said in a news conference in his downtown Honolulu office Wednesday.

A tearful Rachel Marrero, Antonio Marrero’s widow, said she hopes improvements have been made at the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center to ensure other families do not go through a similar tragedy.

“It’s hard every day without him,” she said. “I would give anything to have my husband back.”

On Jan. 29, 2013, Marrero went to the health center’s emergency room after work after battling a fever and sore throat for a week.

“He was struggling to eat,” Rachel Marrero said. “He went right after work and never came home.”

Marrero’s sore throat was caused by an abscess in his tonsils, and although the doctor arranged for him to see a specialist that night, he unnecessarily sedated Marrero and evaluated the abscess.

“He became unable to breathe due to a lack of oxygen, became unconscious and died,” Fried said.

There was no anesthesiologist present, Marrero was “overly sedated” with the drug etomidate and an airway was not opened in time, Fried said.

The Marrero family had filed a lawsuit in federal court in Honolulu against the U.S. government in February 2015. The nonprofit medical center is a federally qualified facility covered by the Federal Tort Claims Act.

Antonio Marrero worked as a maintenance mechanic for Hawaii Logistics LLC, a wholesale grocery supply company at Campbell Industrial Park. He and his wife have three young sons. Rachel Marrero, 35, described her husband as a “gentle giant.”

“He was super-understanding, very patient, very loving,” she said. “We do miss him so much.”

Health center officials at the news conference expressed condolences to the family and said significant changes were implemented at the comprehensive health center soon after Marrero’s death to prevent any recurrence.

A new emergency room director was hired in mid-2013 to make necessary corrections and oversee center operations. The center also hired a chief quality officer and a chief compliance officer with extensive experience in federally qualified health centers, according to Richard Bettini, president and chief executive officer.

Policies and procedures were also updated.

“We strive to do the best we possibly can for everyone,” said Dr. Stephen Bradley, Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center chief medical officer. “Our providers work tirelessly to assure that the best quality of care is given to our patients, and we grieve that in this case things occurred the way they did and we had this unfortunate outcome.

“Any adverse medical event is taken very seriously, and we use that to analyze our systems in a way of doing things and to therefore afterwards educate both providers and staff as to what happened and what should not happen again to prevent any recurrence,” he said.