Matt Casey Begins Wrongful Death Trial Of Dr. Jennifer Sidari

The highly anticipated medical malpractice / wrongful death trial of the late Dr. Jennifer Sidari began yesterday in the Luzerne County Courthouse.

In his opening statements to the jury of six men and six women, Matt Casey, the plaintiff’s attorney, described the 26-year-old Sidari as a new physician with “enormous promise and potential” who died as a result of “a systemic breakdown in care” at the hands of Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center and its doctors.

Casey, a founding partner of Ross Feller Casey in Philadelphia, is representing Sidari’s parent, Peter and Patricia, who allege, among other things, that their daughter died of a blood clot in her head that doctors at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center failed to immediately diagnose and treat because proper tests were not ordered.

Sidari, from West Pittston, died in 2013 just days after graduating from the inaugural class of The Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton. She was preparing to embark on a promising medical career and begin her pediatric residency at the same health system – Geisinger – that her parents blame for her death.

The first day of the trial, which is expected to last several weeks, generated widespread media coverage in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

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Casey, in his opening remarks, told the jury that a doctor who was in charge of treating Sidari left the hospital several hours early to scout out a local bouncy play business as a place to hold his daughter’s upcoming birthday party.

WNEP-16 highlighted that fact during its 6 p.m. broadcast.