The case of the Angel of Death
The Cohens' daughter Melissa (named changed to preserve confidentiality), 27, had terminal ovarian cancer and had been cared for at John Dempsey Hospital for an extended period of time.
In the summer of 1994, the Cohens decided that Melissa would come home to live out the final portion of her life with her family. In conjunction with John Dempsey, they moved her back home, together with her fiancé, and were referred to a private nursing company which held itself out to be a hospice care facility.
The complaint alleged that a nurse from the nursing company arrived unannounced at the Cohens’ home after speaking briefly with Melissa at the hospital. The Cohens said that the nurse was dressed all in black, wore white makeup, and looked like a witch.
The lawsuit further alleged that the nurse went into Melissa's room and began kissing and stroking Melissa on the arms, hands and head. She told Melissa it was OK to die, that it was OK with her family, and "it's beautiful on the other side." Simultaneously, the nurse was alleged to have played background noises sounding like water on the beach because Melissa wanted to go to the beach.
A commotion ensued. Melissa's waste bag broke. She thrashed up and down protesting and screaming and crying. The family told the nurse to leave. Melissa never regained consciousness. She spent the next two days in a constant state of terror and hysteria culminating with her death.
Spinella & Associates represented the Cohens in a case that received enormous attention in the health care industry. They argued that the tenets of hospice care—helping people experience the highest quality of life during the final days of a terminal illness in the context of patient consent and family autonomy and were violated by the defendant health care company and its nurse employee.
The law firm hired an ethicist/oncologist from the University of Tennessee at Memphis to testify as an authority on medical ethics. He was appalled at the fact that Melissa and her family were not the ones who determined the quality of her life before she died and that Melissa's dignity and the family's memory of their final cherished moments with her were forever tarnished.
Spinella & Associates resolved this case after more than two years of intensive legal maneuvering and court proceedings in a way that served to address the particular needs of their clients in the context of a complex and emotionally charged scenario.