Jury rules in favor of widow

A Las Vegas jury returned a $20.5 million verdict Wednesday in a medical malpractice case filed by a woman whose husband died of lung cancer seven years ago.

"It was never about the money," plaintiff Jackie Templeton said during a brief telephone interview.

Templeton said her husband, James, asked her on his deathbed to tell his story.

She said her burden was lifted Friday, when she testified in the courtroom of District Judge Douglas Herndon.

Jurors deliberated about seven hours before returning the verdict against Emergency Physicians' Medical Group, a California company whose employees failed, over a 15-month period, to notify James Templeton about test results suggesting a malignancy was lurking in his lungs.

The company's lawyer, James Edwards, said his client probably will appeal.

According to its Web site, the company is the leading provider of emergency services in Nevada and the second largest in California.

James Templeton's story began on Sept. 4, 1998, when he and his wife made a late-night visit to an urgent care facility owned by Southwest Medical Associates at 888 S. Rancho Drive.

At the time, Emergency Physicians' Medical Group had a contract to provide medical care at the facility.

"I've been to hell and back for the last nine years," Jackie Templeton said Wednesday. "They took my life is what they did."

Her attorney, Peter Christiansen, said the couple first visited the urgent care center because James Templeton was complaining of heart palpitations and chest pain.

James Templeton went home after being told his chest X-ray was normal.

Five days later, Christiansen said, a radiologist's report noted a "density" on the patient's lung, but nobody notified the Templetons.

Edwards said the plaintiff's expert "admitted that the questionable density was not cancer."

Christiansen agreed but said the density required follow-up that would have led to the discovery of the cancer.

James Templeton returned to the urgent care facility with the same complaints on Dec. 12, 1998.

He was diagnosed with bronchitis and sent home with a prescription for an antibiotic, Christiansen said.

By the time James Templeton returned to the center on Nov. 4, 1999, he had lost 40 pounds. Again an X-ray was taken, and again he was told it was normal.

Five days later, Christiansen said, a radiologist's report noted a 4-centimeter mass on the patient's lung that was likely cancerous.

"EPMG still doesn't notify the Templetons," the lawyer said.

James Templeton went to the O'Callaghan Federal Hospital at Nellis Air Force Base on Dec. 17, 1999.

Within 45 minutes of his arrival, the Vietnam War veteran was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, Christiansen said.

James Templeton died June 2, 2000, at the age of 56.

Christiansen said the man had lost 80 pounds since his first visit to the urgent care center.

Jackie Templeton said trial testimony led her to believe her husband, a chef at the Skyline Casino in Henderson, could have lived another five years if his cancer had been detected in a timely fashion. "And perhaps he'd still be here today, if we even had a clue," she said.

The couple were married in 1986.

Without the financial support of her husband, Jackie Templeton was forced to move out of the couple's Las Vegas house and into a trailer on a $10,000 piece of property they owned in southern Utah, Christiansen said.

For 18 months, the lawyer said, she had no running water.

Jackie Templeton filed her medical malpractice lawsuit in 2001.

Christiansen said she reached confidential settlements with other defendants before going to trial July 2 against Emergency Physicians' Medical Group and Dr. Nina Niemeyer, who saw James Templeton on his first visit to the urgent care center.

The jury returned a verdict in favor of Niemeyer.

According to its Web site, Emergency Physicians' Medical Group currently staffs or manages 24 emergency departments and urgent care centers in Nevada, California and Hawaii, and it provides services to more than 680,000 patients annually.

Southern Nevada locations listed on the Web site include University Medical Center and the three St. Rose Dominican Hospital campuses.