Ross Feller Casey Wins $3 Million Medical Malpractice Jury Verdict

Ross Feller Casey won a major $3 million verdict for the family of a 68-year-old man who died as a result of medical malpractice.

The case involved Lonnie Kersey, a lifelong resident of Philadelphia who died due to a doctor’s failure to diagnose and treat cancer and other medical errors.

Ross Feller Casey attorney Kevin Harden, Jr., represented the Kersey family at trial.

During the four-day trial, Harden alleged that the defendant, Dr. Michael Pisano, failed to order appropriate screening tests for Kersey, who was at high risk for Hepatitis C due to his age, history of blood transfusion, and abnormal liver function tests. Hepatitis C was allowed to go unchecked until it caused cirrhosis, liver cancer, and death.

Separately, Pisano also failed to recognize a 250% increase in Kersey’s prostate-specific antigen, a screening test for prostate cancer. Kersey was at high risk for prostate cancer and elected to undergo screening because he was a Black man over the age of 50 and his father suffered from the disease.

The jury, which deliberated for about four hours, agreed that Pisano was negligent. His failure to screen Kersey and his failure to act on Kersey’s abnormal PSA values caused his cancer to advance, which led to his death, the jury found.

Harden told The Legal Intelligencer newspaper that the inclusion of eight medical professionals on the jury — ranging from nurses to hospital administrators — helped the plaintiff’s case.

“We gladly accepted them,” said Harden, adding that they could easily recognize the lapse in the standard of care.