By Gina Tabonares
Variety News Staff

THE U.S. District Court of Guam has scheduled a settlement conference for the parties in the $10 million medical malpractice lawsuit filed by a Guam resident against the Honolulu-based Tripler Army Medical Center.
Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan directed the parties to discuss settlement on May 30 at 10 a.m., and ordered each party to submit a confidential settlement letter by March 23.
The lawsuit stemmed from a complaint filed by Florencia Lewis in August 2005 against the federal hospital.
Lewis sued Tripler Army Medical Center after she allegedly sustained permanent injuries to her left arm and hand as a result of medical treatment in 2002.
The case was earlier scheduled for trial on Dec. 11, 2006 but Lewis’ attorney, Wayson Wong, asked for a continuance to July 23, 2007.
The plaintiff counsel cited difficulties in conducting depositions because many of the witnesses are no longer working at Tripler Army Medical Center.
According to Wong, many of the witnesses were transferred to other locations throughout the world following the alleged incident.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mikel Schwab earlier suggested that to minimize the cost of traveling to various places to conduct depositions, the parties should use video conference depositions.
However, video conference depositions of witnesses in foreign countries have been difficult to arrange because the parties have been unable to get video feed assistance from the U.S. military due to strict security concerns and requirements.
Wong anticipated concluding the depositions of witnesses by the end of January 2007 but parties agreed their respective experts would need at least two months thereafter to complete their reports, thus resulting in a trial date of July 2007.
Judge Manibusan, however, told counsels that the continuance should not be granted beyond April 16, 2007.
Upon the conclusion of the discovery period, the defendant filed a motion and stated that the parties wish to submit the case for a settlement conference.
Lewis is holding the government hospital’s physicians and health care providers responsible for the permanent injuries she sustained to her left arm and hand.
Based on her complaint, Lewis said she flew from Guam to Hawaii in August 2002 for treatment at the Army hospital for hypertension.
While at Tripler, Lewis was diagnosed as having right-sided renal artery stenosis.
Two days later, she underwent a right renal artery angiogram. But because of complications, she underwent a left brachial artery access in her upper left arm for selective stent placement and angioplasty of her right renal artery, according to court records.
And because of additional problems and complications during those procedures, Lewis reportedly sustained permanent injuries to the nerves in her left arm and hand, substantial pain and disability, emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life, the complainant’s attorney said.
Wong added that the physicians and other health care providers of Tripler failed to obtain Lewis’ informed consent to the procedures that caused her permanent damages.
“A reasonable person in Mrs. Lewis’ circumstances would not have consented to the proposed procedure had the required information been given to her. That failure to obtain her informed consent has been a legal cause of her injuries and related damages,” Wong said.
Wong added that his client exhausted administrative remedies last year and filed claims for personal injury against the federal government on Aug. 10, 2004, but the government failed to take final administrative action either through a written denial or final settlement.