Published: July 14, 2008 11:18 pm      

COURTS: Sides meet to negotiate $9 million award

Attempts to settle what may be the largest sum awarded for malpractice in Niagara County Court history will likely continue.

A meeting was held Friday in the chambers of Niagara County Court Judge Richard Kloch, who presided over a two-week wrongful death trial that concluded late last month with a $9 million award to the plaintiffs.

The award was approved after just two hours deliberation by a six-member jury, which determined the 2004 death of 33-year-old North Tonawanda resident Suzanne E. Crane was caused in part by a physician’s negligence.

Lawyers from both sides as well as those representing the doctor’s insurance company met to explore possible amendments to the award.

Attorney John Licata, with the law firm Connors & Vilardo, LLP, defense council for defendant Nancy J. Stubbe M.D., said negotiations will continue into the fall.

“The judge is continuing to try to get us to reach some kind of agreement, but it’s set down for further proceedings in October,” he said.

Malpractice insurance is expected to cover court-ordered payments to Crane’s husband and two young children with regard to her untimely death, which resulted from a breast tumor that had been developing in her body before and after she gave birth to the couple’s second child.

Misdiagnosis and treatment of the disease is being attributed to negligence on the part of Stubbe, a famed Western New York surgeon with almost 50 years surgical experience.

The total, $9,057,960, includes retroactive damages and other “pecuniary” compensation for the period of time following Crane’s death to the present, and into the future, according to documents filed with the Niagara County Clerk.

Of 10 separate allocations to be distributed among three family members listed in the suit and Crane’s estate, the largest single figure is to her husband, Raymond Crane, for future losses in the amount of $3,030,160.

The jury decided that figure would compensate Mr. Crane for a 10 year-year period, starting with the June 30 verdict. An additional $1 million was included to cover the period between his wife’s death and the verdict being reached.

An additional $1,027,800 was split between funeral expenses, pain and suffering and loss of services. Four million was set aside for the two children in equal parts for the next 17 to 20 years.

Stubbe, 77, was once nominated by Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds as a “local legend of medicine.” A biography posted on the Web at that time includes statements from Stubbe.

She earned her M.D. from the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1958. On the subject of entering the field of surgery in 1959, she stated, “ . . . there were only two women surgeons in New York City and I was the first woman surgeon in Western New York state.”

Information from www.nlm.nih.gov states she became in 1963 a member of the Buffalo Medical Center. Four years later she became clinical instructor at SUNY Buffalo, and years later clinical assistant professor at the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences there.

At that time she was also a fellow with the American College of Surgeons and in 1978 began a two-year tenure as president of the Erie County chapter of the American Cancer Society.

Over the course of the next 24 years, Stubbe in 2000 was named Woman Physician of the year by Kaleida Health System, co-founded the Acute Crisis Committee at Erie County Medical Society and was honored several times by area colleges for her contributions to medicine.

Contact reporter Neale Gulleyat 693-1000, ext. 114.