'110,9b @

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1 IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS

2 CUYAHOGA COUNTY, OHIO

3 ERMA J. COLELLO, ET AL.,

4 Plaintiffs,
JUDGE McALLISTER
5 _vs- CASE NO. 96118

6 EUCLID GENERAL HOSPITAL,
ET AL.,
7
Defendants.
8

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10 Continued deposition of MICHAEL NOCHOMOVITZ.

11 M.D., taken as if upon cross-examination before

12 Linda A. Astuto, a Registered Professional

13 Reporter and Notary Public within and for the

14 State of Ohio, at the offices of University

15 Hospitals, Abbington Road, Cleveland, Ohio, at

16 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 7, 1987,

17 pursuant to notice and/or stipulations of

18 counsel, on behalf of the Defendant, Euclid

19 General Hospital, in this cause.

20 - - - -

21
MEHLER & HAGESTROM, INC.
22 Registered Professional Reporters
650 Engineers Building
23 Cleveland, Ohio 44114
(216) 621-4984
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1 APPEARANCES:

2
Eric Kennedy, Esq.
3 Weisman, Goldberg & Weisman Co., L.P.A.
540 Leader Building
4 Cleveland, Ohio 44114
(216) 781-1111,
5
On behalf of the Plaintiffs;
6

7 John D. Baker, Esq.
Weston, Hurd, Fallon, Paisley & Howley
8 2500 Terminal Tower
Cleveland, Ohio 44113
9 (216) 241-6602,

10 On behalf of the Defendant
Euclid General Hospital;

William D. Bonezzi, Esq.
12 Jacobson, Maynard, Tuschman & Kalur
100 Erieview Plaza
13 Fourteenth Floor
Cleveland, Ohio 44114
14 (216) 621-5400,

15 On behalf of the Defendant
Kevin Lee, M.D.
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2 - - - -
3 CONTINUED CROSS-EXAMINATION
4 OF MICHAEL NOCHOMOVITZ.  M.D.
5 BY MR. BAKER:
6 MR. BAKER: Doctor, hopefully we
7 are not going to be long.
8 Let the record show we are continuing the
9 deposition of Doctor at this noon hour again at
10 his offices.
11 Doctor, you are still under oath. My
12 admonitions to you to understand all of my
13 questions and to answer verbally still apply,
14 okay?
15 A. Sure.
16 Q. Have you ever examined Mrs. Colello?
17 A. No.
18 Q. Have you ever seen her as a patient?
19 A. No.
20 Q. You know nothing about her current condition?
21 A. Nothing.
22 Q. Were you aware that she suffered from rheumatoid
23 arthritis prior to this incident?
24 A. I was aware that she had an arthritic condition.
25 Q. Are you aware -- go ahead.
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1 A. Specific diagnosis, I was not aware.
2 Q. Are you aware it has been a continuously
3 deteriorating condition?
4 A. No.
5 Are you aware she had a total knee replacement
6 this past summer?
7 A. Not aware.
8 Such a condition rheumatoid arthritis that is
9 developmental over the years to three years post
10 this incident requiring a total knee
11 replacement, that would impact on the woman's
12 life expectancy and the quality of life she can
13 expect, would it not?
14 A. Well, I am not a rheumatologist.  I cannot
15 really comment on joint disease. But as an
16 internist, I suspect that rheumatoid, that
17 rheumatoid arthritis and knee replacements would
18 modestly affect the life expectancy. It might
19 affect the functional.
20 Q. How about asthma? She suffered from asthma
21 before this incident. She suffered from
22 asthmatic bronchitis also before this incident.
23 Asthma is a disease that also impacts on
24 your quality of life, does it not?
25 A. It may, depending on how the disease is managed
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1 and its severity, depending on the degree of
2 reactivity of the airways and the frequency of
3 attacks. There are Olympic athletes with
4 asthma. So the disease can be very well
5 controlled.
6 How about in 51 year old females?
7 A. Age really doesn't play a significant role in
8 deciding who is going to have a better --
9 Can asthma have an adverse effect on life
10 expectancy?
11 A. Sure, severe asthma could technically result in
12 death if it is untreated. I should probably add
13 that in the United States there are very small
14 number of asthmatics who die from that condition
15 per se.
16 I understand.
17 MR. KENNEDY: Anything is
1 8 possible.
19 Q. Doctor, what in your opinion of reasonable
20 medical certainty was the medical cause of the
21 respiratory arrest suffered by this woman?
22 A. I believe that the arrest was a result of the
23 excessive use of narcotics in an individual who
24 was, who had chronic bronchitis and was in
25 active respiratory distress and was predisposed
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1 to the adverse respiratory affects of these
2 drugs.
3 Q. Then in view of that answer, am I correct that
4 you do not, you are not of the opinion that this
5 respiratory arrest was caused by an adverse
6 reaction to Talwin, an allergic reaction to
7 Talwin?
8 A. The word allergic is a difficult one, I think,
9 for many people to interpret. I don't see any
10 evidence in the record of allergy in the sense
11 that the classical allergic responses are often
12 associated with certain signsi skin rashes,