Was Patricia Astone’s Death Preventable?

Patricia Astone passed away in November from septic shock due to a urinary tract infection. Was Patti’s death preventable?

73 year old retired special education teacher, gardener and church goer, Patricia Astone was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in its late stages, and was seeking chemotherapy treatments at Saint Agnes Medical Center in Fresno, CA.  Patricia (“Patti”) also underwent cancer removal surgery at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City in October 2014.  After the surgery, she was assured that it was successful and continued to be optimistic about her ability to beat the disease.  However, shortly after pursuing the treatments at Saint Agnes in November 2014, Patti took a turn for the worse.  She was discharged from the center on November 5th, 2014, and within a few days time began complaining of pain.  She was vomiting, and her husband, 78 year old Robert (“Bob”) Astone, immediately called the center’s oncologist on duty, Dr. Rabia Parveez, who instructed him to take his wife to the emergency room.  Once they arrived, the staff tried to save her, but it was simply too late. On November 12, 2014, one week following Patti’s discharge from Saint Agnes, she passed away from septic shock with aspiration pneumonitis.  The question was raised – Was Patti’s death preventable?

Bob decided to take legal action, and sued the staff of Saint Agnes, blaming the nurses who cared for his wife, for medical malpractice and negligence.  Dr. Parveez is also involved. Bob and his attorney, Daniel Baradat, allege that the medical staff failed to diagnose a urinary tract infection Patricia had at the time of her death, which worsened to the point of causing septic shock, from which she ultimately passed.  Bob is seeking damages, which could be as much as $250,000, for loss of Patti’s pension and funds to cover the funeral experiences.  

Saint Agnes Medical Center is being represented by Fresno attorney Jerry Casheros, and Dr. Parveez, who was only covering for Patricia’s regular physician, Dr. Joseph Pascuzzo that day, is represented by Fresno attorney Dirk Paloutzian.  The judge assigned to the matter is Judge Alan Simpson.  

The trial is expected to wrap in one to two weeks, and the jury has been made privvy to a letter written from Saint Agnes to Robert Astone in December 2016, which may prove that Patti’s death was preventable and more could have been done to save his wife: “As a result of our investigation, we recognize there were missed opportunities to identify and treat your wife’s condition sooner; we are currently evaluating our processes around sepsis management to determine how we can make improvements…”

Casheros claims the letter is nothing more than hearsay, stating “such retrospective analysis is of no relevance to the court in a medical malpractice case.”  The attorney says it is not a blatant admission of liability, indicating essentially that hindsight is always 20/20, and in every case where a patient loses his or her life in the hands of medical personnel there can be found potential alternate means of treatment that could have helped.  Staff is disheartened by the loss and willing to analyze how to better serve patients in similar situations in the future.  Bob says he just doesn’t want it to happen to anyone else, if another death is preventable.

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Why did Patricia Astone die? Husband says Saint Agnes, doctor to blame