By Karenlyn Barone
The Agoados visited Butterman again on Christmas Eve, and he reconfirmed his flu diagnosis. Two days later, Alyssa was admitted to Mercy Medical Center, where she was diagnosed with pneumonia and transported to Winthrop University Hospital. Five days later, on New Year's Eve, Alyssa, having gone into cardiac arrest, was dead.
Now Lisa and David Agoado are reliving Alyssa's death in a Mineola courtroom. The Lynbrook couple has brought a medical malpractice suit against Butterman and two attending physicians at Winthrop University Hospital, Drs. Laura Nimkoff and Paul Lee, seeking unspecified damages for negligence in their daughter's death.
"Dr. Butterman never prescribed antibiotics or a chest X-ray," said the Agoados' attorney, Peter D. Assail. "The proper diagnosis was given at Winthrop, but the appropriate workup was not done."
In the trial, which began last week, Assail told the jury that Alyssa's heart could not pump properly due to the infectious fluid surrounding it. The condition, know as pericardial effusion, was diagnosed by doctors at Winthrop, but, according to Assail, she was never treated properly for that condition.
In a telephone interview, Assail said the trial was going well and he was especially pleased with testimony presented thus far. In the coming days, Butterman, who now practices in Oceanside, will take the stand, but was unable to comment on the trial. His attorney, Steven Hyman, of McLaughlin and Stern in Manhattan, could not be reached for comment.
As is the case in all malpractice suits in New York state, the jury will determine the monetary award for damages should it find for the plaintiff. But, said Robert Jackson, a malpractice attorney for the Manhattan-based firm Trolman, Glaser and Lichtman, P.C., It is very rare that anyone gets what the jury awards these days.
