0001 1 IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS SUMMIT COUNTY, OHIO 2 - - - - - 3 4 Charles DeLorean, ) Judge Brenda Individually and as Executor ) Burnham-Unruh 5 of the Estate of Shirley ) DeLorean, Deceased, ) 6 ) Plaintiff, ) Case No. 7 ) CV-2009-05-3844 vs. ) 8 ) Copley Health Center, et al., ) 9 ) Defendants. ) 10 - - - - - 11 12 Deposition of: 13 ROHIT S. CHANDURKAR, D.O. 14 15 April 29, 2010 2:05 p.m. 16 17 Location: Roetzel & Andress, LPA 18 222 South Main Street Akron, Ohio 19 20 21 Reporter: Michelle A. Bishilany, RDR, CRR 22 23 24 25 0002 1 APPEARANCES: 2 3 On behalf of the Plaintiff (Via telephone): DAVID A. KULWICKI, ESQ. 4 Becker & Mishkind Co., LPA 1660 West Second Street 5 Skylight Office Tower, Suite 660 Cleveland, OH 44113 6 866.477.4097 dkulwicki@beckermishkind.com 7 8 On behalf of Defendants Copley Medical 9 Center, Heritage Management Co., LLC, and Communicare Health Services, Inc.: 10 MICHELLE H. BAGI, ESQ. Bonezzi, Switzer, Murphy 11 Polito & Hupp Co., LPA 1300 East 9th Street, Suite 1950 12 Cleveland, OH 44114 216.875.2767 13 mbagi@bsmph.com 14 15 On behalf of Defendants Leo Clavecilla, M.D., Ellet Primary Care, Meredith Girard, 16 M.D. and Summa Physicians, Inc.: STEPHAN C. KREMER, ESQ. 17 Reminger Co., LPA 80 South Summit Street, Suite 200 18 Akron, OH 44308 330.375.1311 19 skremer@reminger.com 20 21 On behalf of Defendants Kennard C. Ford, M.D. and Summit Rehabilitation Medicine, Inc.: 22 GREGG A. PEUGEOT, ESQ. Hanna, Campbell & Powell, LLP 23 3737 Embassy Parkway Akron, OH 44334 24 330.670.7300 gpeugeot@hcplaw.net 25 0003 1 APPEARANCES (Continued): 2 3 On behalf of Defendant Akron General Medical Center: 4 ELIZABETH N. DAVIS, ESQ. Roetzel & Andress, LPA 5 222 South Main Street Akron, OH 44308 6 330.376.2700 edavis@ralaw.com 7 8 On behalf of Defendants Rohit S. 9 Chandurkar, D.O. and General Emergency Medical Specialists, Inc.: 10 THOMAS A. TREADON, ESQ. Roetzel & Andress, LPA 11 222 South Main Street Akron, OH 44308 12 330.376.2700 ttreadon@ralaw.com 13 14 On behalf of Defendants David A. Miller, 15 M.D. and Northeast Ohio Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Specialists: 16 ROCCO D. POTENZA, ESQ. Hanna, Campbell & Powell, LLP 17 3737 Embassy Parkway Akron, OH 44334 18 330.670.7300 rpotenza@hcplaw.net 19 20 - - - - - 21 22 23 24 25 0004 1 I N D E X 2 3 EXAMINATION OF ROHIT S. CHANDURKAR, D.O. 4 Page Line 5 BY MR. KULWICKI...................5 6 6 7 EXHIBITS REFERENCED 8 Exhibit 1.........................13 12 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 0005 1 ROHIT S. CHANDURKAR, D.O., of lawful 2 age, called for examination, being by me first 3 duly sworn, as hereinafter certified, deposed and 4 said as follows: 5 EXAMINATION OF ROHIT S. CHANDURKAR, D.O. 6 BY MR. KULWICKI: 7 Q. Good afternoon, Dr. Chandurkar. Would 8 you kindly state your full name, spell your last 9 name and give us your current business address. 10 A. Yes. First name is Rohit, R-O-H-I-T, 11 middle name is Sudhakar, S-U-D-H-A-K-A-R, last 12 name is Chandurkar, C-H-A-N-D-U-R-K-A-R. 13 Q. What's your current business address? 14 A. It's 400 Wabash Avenue, Akron, Ohio, 15 44307. 16 Q. Doctor, in May of 2007 when you cared 17 for Shirley DeLorean, were you an employee of 18 GEMS? 19 A. Yes, I was. 20 Q. How long have you been employed by GEMS? 21 A. Since November of 2006. 22 Q. Do you have any plans to change your 23 employment or to move from the Akron area in the 24 next year? 25 A. No, I do not. 0006 1 Q. Are you board certified in any specialty 2 of medicine? 3 A. Emergency medicine. 4 Q. Do you remember Shirley DeLorean? 5 A. No, I do not. 6 Q. Is it the case that your care of her was 7 limited to a one-time encounter on May 12, 8 2007 -- May 13, 2007 at Akron General Medical 9 Center's emergency department? 10 A. As far as I know as the records state. 11 Q. In reviewing the medical chart did you 12 have any recollection of events, discussions or 13 other occurrences that do not occur in the 14 medical record or that aren't related in the 15 medical record? 16 A. Nothing other than what's stated in the 17 medical record. 18 Q. I note that there are a couple of ER 19 docs mentioned in here. We took Erin Simon's 20 deposition and she told us she was a resident at 21 the time. There was also, I believe, the lab 22 report that bears the name of Dr. Lloyd. Was Dr. 23 Lloyd an attending back in May of 2007? 24 A. Yes, he was. 25 Q. I assume you were as well, correct? 0007 1 A. Correct. 2 Q. Would it have been the case on May 13 of 3 2007 that you and Dr. Lloyd both would have been 4 working in Akron General Medical Center's 5 emergency department during the same time during 6 the same shift? 7 A. It's possible, but I can't confirm that. 8 Q. Have you had an opportunity to review 9 the medical record in preparation for today's 10 deposition? 11 A. Yes, I have. 12 Q. Was your review limited to the emergency 13 department records? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. Did you have an opportunity to review 16 Dr. Simon's deposition? 17 A. Yes, I have. 18 Q. Recognizing that you probably can't 19 remember everything in Dr. Simon's deposition, 20 was there anything in her deposition that jumped 21 out at you as being something that you would not 22 agree with? 23 A. Not based on the deposition that I read, 24 no. 25 Q. In her deposition she related that the 0008 1 reason that antibiotics were not administered for 2 treatment of C. Diff, even though C. Diff was in 3 the differential, was because giving antibiotics 4 without a lab result proving that the patient in 5 fact had C. Diff can be dangerous to the patient? 6 A. That is correct. 7 Q. I assume that, like Dr. Simon, you would 8 take the position that you can't treat C. Diff 9 presumptively in an emergency department setting 10 unless you have the clinical presentation of 11 C. Diff and a lab test confirming that the 12 patient in fact had C. Diff; would you agree with 13 that? 14 A. Can you please restate the question? 15 Q. Sure. 16 During your care and treatment of this 17 patient you were obviously aware that she had 18 generalized weakness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, 19 she was over the age of 65, she had had a recent 20 history of antibiotic use and she was in a long- 21 term care setting prior to admission at Akron 22 General Medical Center; true? 23 A. That would be based on whatever was in 24 the record at that time. 25 MR. TREADON: You can look at the 0009 1 record. 2 A. I don't recall specifically knowing that 3 she had recent antibiotic use. 4 Q. Just bear with me for a second, I 5 thought that was in the record, the emergency 6 department, let me just read this real quick. 7 Well, let me ask it this way, I don't 8 see it right now on the quick review here: 9 Doctor, based on all the information that you had 10 available to you during the ED admission for this 11 patient in May of 2007, was a C. Diff infection 12 in your differential? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. If you would then tell me why you did 15 not start antibiotic treatment for this patient 16 with that condition being in her differential. 17 A. Because inappropriate use of antibiotics 18 can actually make things worse. 19 Q. Had you had a lab result from a C. Diff 20 assay showing that the patient was in fact 21 positive for the toxins associated with C. Diff, 22 in other words, a positive lab result, if you had 23 had that during this ED admission, with the other 24 information that you had available, including her 25 clinical presentation, her history and the 0010 1 imaging that showed possible pseudomembranous 2 colitis, would you have commenced treatment of 3 the patient with appropriate antibiotics for 4 C. Diff? 5 MR. PEUGEOT: Objection. 6 MS. BAGI: Objection. 7 MR. POTENZA: Objection. 8 MR. TREADON: You can answer. 9 A. Are you asking in a hypothetical 10 situation? 11 Q. I am. 12 A. Well, it would be one of the possible 13 causes. It would have been taken into account 14 with the patient's clinical presentation, labs 15 and then the decision would have been arrived at 16 that time whether to treat or not. 17 Q. Yes, I understand that. I understand, 18 Doctor, that at the time that you cared for the 19 patient you did not have a positive lab result 20 showing that the patient had C. Diff or the 21 toxins associated with C. Diff; true? 22 A. Correct. 23 Q. So I'm kind of changing it 24 hypothetically. If you did have that 25 information, if that information was available to 0011 1 you upon the patient's admission to Akron General 2 Medical Center, given all the other things that 3 you knew about her, if you had that additional 4 piece of information would that have led you to 5 the decision to begin treatment for C. Diff? 6 MR. PEUGEOT: Objection. 7 MR. POTENZA: Objection. 8 MS. BAGI: Objection. 9 MR. TREADON: You may answer. 10 A. Since I didn't have that information 11 available it would be very difficult for me to 12 make that decision at that point in a 13 hypothetical situation. 14 Q. Well certainly you know about C. Diff; 15 true? And you knew about it back in May of 2007; 16 true? 17 A. Correct. 18 Q. You knew that a patient that has C. Diff 19 needs antibiotic treatment for that condition; 20 true? 21 A. True. 22 Q. Well tell me what information you would 23 need to make a diagnosis of C. Diff to the point 24 where you'd be comfortable beginning antibiotic 25 treatment for that condition. 0012 1 A. Well I would need all the blood work, I 2 would need cultures and take into account the 3 vital signs, the patient's presentation and then 4 I could arrive at that decision at that time. 5 Q. Tell me, Doctor, once you arrive at a 6 diagnosis or a presumptive diagnosis of a patient 7 who has -- that the patient has C. Diff in an 8 emergency room setting, under what circumstances 9 do you admit that patient for treatment? 10 A. You're asking admission versus 11 discharge? 12 Q. Correct. 13 A. Well, since this patient was on an IV 14 drip and could really not go back to where she 15 came from with that IV drip, she required 16 admission. 17 Q. Irrespective of confirmation of C. Diff 18 on lab findings? 19 A. Correct. 20 Q. Based on your review of records, do you 21 have any criticisms of Dr. Simon or Dr. Miller in 22 the care that they provided to this particular 23 patient? 24 A. I have no criticisms of Dr. Simon. 25 With respect to Dr. Miller, since I have 0013 1 not seen the records nor do I practice in his 2 field I can't really make those comments at this 3 time. 4 Q. Besides you and Dr. Simon, did anyone 5 else, to your knowledge, care for Mrs. DeLorean 6 or involve themselves in any treatment decisions 7 for her? 8 A. Not to my knowledge, sir. 9 Q. We have some exhibits here, let me run 10 through those quickly. 11 A. Sure. 12 Q. Exhibit 1 is a pack of records including 13 the three page or four page ED this patient -- 14 strike that. 15 It is 11 pages of emergency room 16 records, correct? 17 A. I believe so, yes. 18 Q. Would all of your records, anything that 19 you either dictated or wrote, be included within 20 exhibit 1? 21 A. Yes. 22 Q. If you go page six, it's the medical 23 screening examination form. Tell me when you're 24 there, Doctor. 25 A. Are you talking about the nurse triage 0014 1 sheet? 2 Q. Yes. 3 A. Yes, I'm here. 4 Q. Is anything on that sheet your 5 handwriting? 6 A. No. 7 Q. The next page is the emergency room 8 record with a capital letter B. Is anything on 9 there your handwriting? 10 A. No. 11 Q. The next page is emergency record A. Is 12 anything on that your record? 13 A. The best that I can surmise is my 14 writing is what's listed in the "Orders" section 15 under "18:05," which is the Cardizem 20 milligram 16 IV bolus, then a drip at five milligrams per 17 hour -- 18 MR. TREADON: Slow down. Slow down a 19 little bit. 20 A. -- and a normal saline 500 cc bolus. 21 Q. Doctor, approximately how long was this 22 patient in the ED from the time of admission to 23 the time of discharge to the floor, or 24 transferred to the floor? 25 A. I don't know. That would have to be 0015 1 taken from the record. Just a second. 2 MR. TREADON: He's reviewing it. 3 MR. KULWICKI: Thank you. 4 A. She arrived at 17:00. As far as the 5 best that I can tell from the B sheet, she left 6 at approximately 10:00. 22:08 is the last 7 notation. 8 Q. At any time during that period of time 9 did you order or commence treatment for C. Diff? 10 A. As far as I know whatever is stated in 11 the record is there, and it depends on what 12 you're talking about, specific treatment and 13 orders. 14 Q. Let's focus on antibiotics. Did you 15 order any antibiotics for treatment of C. Diff 16 during that period of time? 17 A. No. 18 Q. When a patient comes in from a facility 19 like Copley Medical Center and if a transferring 20 physician wants to admit her to the floor, at 21 Akron General Medical Center back in May of 2007 22 could they admit the patient directly to the 23 floor or do they have to go through the ER to get 24 to the floor? 25 A. Patient could be admitted directly to 0016 1 the floor. 2 Q. Okay, great. 3 MR. KULWICKI: Doctor, thanks for your 4 time. That's all the questions I have. 5 MR. TREADON: Ladies and gentlemen, any 6 other questions? 7 MR. POTENZA: No. 8 MS. BAGI: No questions. 9 MR. PEUGEOT: No questions. 10 MS. DAVIS: No. 11 MR. KREMER: No questions. 12 BY MR. KULWICKI: 13 Q. Doctor, to wrap up, could you hear me 14 okay? 15 A. Yes, I heard you great. 16 Q. Did I give you an adequate opportunity 17 to respond to my questions? 18 A. Yes, you did. 19 MR. KULWICKI: Okay, thank you. That's 20 all I have. I'm going to hang up. 21 Michelle, we'll take it. 22 MR. TREADON: You're going to have it 23 typed? 24 MR. KULWICKI: Yes, I'm going to have it 25 done. 0017 1 MR. TREADON: He'll read. 2 MR. KULWICKI: Okay. 3 4 (Deposition concluded at 2:23 p.m.) 5 - - - - - 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 0018 1 CERTIFICATE 2 3 The State of Ohio, ) 4 ) SS: 5 County of Cuyahoga. ) 6 7 I, Michelle A. Bishilany, a Notary Public within and for the State of Ohio, duly 8 commissioned and qualified, do hereby certify that the within named witness, ROHIT S. 9 CHANDURKAR, D.O., was by me first duly sworn to testify the truth, the whole truth and nothing 10 but the truth in the cause aforesaid; that the testimony then given by the above-referenced 11 witness was by me reduced to stenotypy in the presence of said witness; afterwards transcribed, 12 and that the foregoing is a true and correct transcription of the testimony so given by the 13 above-referenced witness. 14 I do further certify that this deposition was taken at the time and place in the 15 foregoing caption specified and was completed without adjournment. I do further certify that I 16 am not a relative, counsel or attorney for either party, or otherwise interested in the event of 17 this action. 18 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal of office at 19 Cleveland, Ohio, on this 30th day of April, 2010. 20 21 22 _______________________________________ 23 Michelle A. Bishilany, Notary Public within and for the State of Ohio 24 My commission expires January 18, 2011 25 0019 1 AFFIDAVIT OF NOTARY PUBLIC 2 3 The State of Ohio, ) 4 ) SS: 5 County of Cuyahoga. ) 6 7 Before me, a Notary Public in and for said 8 County and State, personally appeared ROHIT S. 9 CHANDURKAR, D.O., who acknowledged that he did 10 read his transcript in the above-captioned 11 matter, listed any necessary corrections on the 12 accompanying errata sheet, and did sign the 13 foregoing sworn statement and that the same is 14 his free act and deed. 15 In TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto 16 affixed my name and official seal at this______ 17 day of _____________________ A.D. 2010. 18 19 20 ________________________ 21 Notary Public 22 23 _________________________ 24 My Commission Expires: 25 0020 1 SIGNATURE PAGE 2 Re: Charles DeLorean, Individually and as 3 Executor of the Estate of Shirley 4 DeLorean, Deceased vs. Copley Health 5 Center, et al. 6 Case Number: CV-2009-05-3844 7 Deponent: ROHIT S. CHANDURKAR, D.O. 8 Deposition Date: April 29, 2010 9 10 To the Reporter: 11 12 I have read the entire transcript of my 13 Deposition taken in the captioned matter or the 14 same has been read to me. I request that the 15 following changes be entered upon the record for 16 the reasons indicated. I have signed my name to 17 the Errata Sheet and the appropriate Certificate 18 and authorize you to attach both to the original 19 transcript. 20 21 22 23 _________________________________ 24 ROHIT S. CHANDURKAR, D.O. 25 0021 1 ERRATA SHEET 2 Page Line Change 3 _____ _____ _________________________________ 4 _____ _____ _________________________________ 5 _____ _____ _________________________________ 6 _____ _____ _________________________________ 7 _____ _____ _________________________________ 8 _____ _____ _________________________________ 9 _____ _____ _________________________________ 10 _____ _____ _________________________________ 11 _____ _____ _________________________________ 12 _____ _____ _________________________________ 13 _____ _____ _________________________________ 14 _____ _____ _________________________________ 15 _____ _____ _________________________________ 16 _____ _____ _________________________________ 17 _____ _____ _________________________________ 18 _____ _____ _________________________________ 19 _____ _____ _________________________________ 20 _____ _____ _________________________________ 21 _____ _____ _________________________________ 22 _____ _____ _________________________________ 23 _____ _____ _________________________________ 24 _____ NO CHANGES 25 Signature:_________________________ Date:________