By Michael Donoghue
Vermont News First

[Editor’s note: Due to an editorial error, an earlier headline misstated the amount of the settlement. VDC regrets the error.]

CHELSEA — A jury has ordered Dartmouth Hitchcock Health to pay $1.4 million to an Orange County man after determining it committed medical malpractice while treating him for testicular cancer.

The man, from Tunbridge, received an invasive medical procedure to remove his left testicle at the Lebanon, N.H. hospital in May 2020 and the follow up was seriously lacking, according to his Burlington attorney Robert Hemley of Gravel & Shea.

Hemley said the verdict in Vermont Superior Court on Friday validates the claims the plaintiff had asserted for the last six years that Dartmouth Hitchcock was negligent in failing to identify a metastatic tumor on his pelvis and to take seriously his health complaints.

Due to the negligence and deviation from standard care by Dartmouth Hitchcock, the patient “suffered severe injury, resulting in medical expenses, pain, suffering, the loss of enjoyment of life, lost income and other damages,” Hemley said in court papers.

Due to the sensitive nature of the medical procedures, Vermont News First has opted to withhold the name of the plaintiff.

Hemley, who was assisted throughout the case by co-counsel Celeste E. Laramie, presented about a dozen witnesses during the two-week trial.  The jury deliberated about five hours over two days before returning the verdict.

“It demonstrates the continuing strength in the jury system in Vermont,” Hemley said.

“It is reassuring to know even in these times, the court system works to find the truth.  I am proud of the part we played in bringing Dartmouth to justice, and hope the medical system improves as a result,” the veteran lawyer said in an email.

Dartmouth Hitchcock was represented by Tris Coffin and Jennifer McDonald of Downs Rachlin Martin, a Burlington-based law firm.

They presented four expert witnesses to try to block the medical claim and also cross-examined the witnesses presented by the plaintiff.

Dartmouth Hitchcock Health Inc., Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinic and Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital were the named defendants in the lawsuit  They are known collectively as Dartmouth Health.

Multiple attempts to seek comments from Dartmouth Health were unsuccessful.  A DH spokesman told Vermont News First that nobody was on duty or on call for media relations throughout the weekend.

Audra Burns, DH’s director of media relations, communications and marketing and Cassidy Smith, media specialist, also did not respond to cell phone and text messages over the weekend.

Coffin, a former U.S. Attorney for Vermont, said Sunday he would need to speak to his client before he might be able to offer a comment.

The defense will be given a couple of weeks to file any post-trial motions.

While finding the medical malpractice, the jury rejected a second claim under the implied consent provisions of the law.

Hemley thanked the jury and Judge Timothy B. Tomasi for their efforts and attention to detail in the case.

Much of the lawsuit centered on the treatment performed by Dr. John Seigne, a urologist from Lebanon, N.H., but he was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, records show.

Seigne began treating the plaintiff for cancer in his left testicle in May 2020, the lawsuit noted.  By May 29, 2020, Dr. Seigne surgically removed it, court papers show.

Following the surgery, Dr. Seigne instead of providing chemotherapy or radiation, opted to recommend surveillance, Hemley wrote in the lawsuit.  It included examinations and imaging of the patient’s abdomen and pelvis every 4 to 6 months for the first two years, and then every six months in years three through five, court papers noted.

Dr. Seigne told the patient the risk of recurrence for Stage 1 cancer was around 15 percent, and maybe higher in his case, but the current thought favored surveillance, Hemley said.  Based on the doctor’s thoughts, the patient proceeded with surveillance. 

Throughout 2021, the patient complained to Dr. Seigne about increasing erectile dysfunction pain and  difficulty with urination, Hemley said in court papers.  Despite repeated and increasing complaints, “no provider at Dartmouth Health properly investigated to determine if the complaints were related to a return or metastasis of the testicular cancer,” Hemley wrote.

Dr. Seigne declined to see the patient from May 4, 2021 until Jan. 5, 2022 and only saw him after a physician friend of the plaintiff intervened on his behalf, the lawsuit noted.

In January and April 2021 when they examined images taken at those times, providers employed by Dartmouth Health and/or the other defendants, did not identify a metastatic tumor on the patient’s pelvis which appeared on the images, Hemley wrote.

Neither Dr. Seigne, nor other providers at Dartmouth Health informed the radiologists who examined the images in January and April 2021 about the patient’s condition or ongoing complaints.

“On retrospective review, providers employed by Dartmouth Health and/or other defendants, acknowledged that the images taken and interpreted as normal in January and April 2021 reveal the presence of a metastatic tumor” on the patient’s pelvis, the lawsuit noted.

The lawsuit was initially filed in 2022 and was later amended in September 2024.