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Boardman clinic caused man’s overdose on 90-day morphine supply, suit alleges
YOUNGSTOWN
A Leetonia man claims a Boardman pain clinic accidentally injected him with a 90-day supply of morphine, causing him to overdose and crash his car.
Attorneys for Charles Fellhauer and his wife, Patricia, on June 27 filed a medical malpractice suit in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court against Ado Health Services Inc. of Howland, which operates Doctors Pain Clinic along Boardman-Canfield Road in Boardman, as well as the clinic’s Dr. Tracy Neuendorf and several other unidentified clinic employees.
Before the July 18 incident, Charles Fellhauer had an automated morphine pump implanted in his body, which controlled the limited release of morphine into his body for chronic pain management, according to the suit. Medical professionals manually refilled the pump after 90 days.
Clinic employees were meant to use radiology to guide a syringe containing that 90-day supply of morphine into the port inside Charles Fellhauer’s body, but they didn’t, according to the suit.
“During this routine procedure, and unbeknownst to Charles, the morphine in the syringe was not injected into the pump’s reservoir, but instead, the entire 90-day dose of morphine was directly injected into his abdominal cavity,” the suit reads.
The suit also claims clinic workers didn’t check whether the refill was successful and instead sent him on his way.
While driving home at “highway speeds,” Charles Fellhauer purportedly suffered a “massive” overdose and lost consciousness. His vehicle veered off the road, striking an embankment, utility pole and a tree, then overturned.
The suit seeks damages in excess of $25,000, for “serious and permanent physical injuries” Charles Fellhauer incurred through the overdose and crash, as well as lasting “mental anguish” and trauma.
Dr. Neuendorf, who has been licensed to practice osteopathic medicine in the state since 1983, is not accused by name of any particular conduct in the suit. The Ohio Medical Board has not taken any punitive action against Dr. Neuendorf in the past, records show.
The Fellhauers’ attorneys, Ryan Harrell and Richard Abrams of Youngstown, did not return calls to comment.
A representative from Doctors Pain Clinic could not immediately be reached to comment, and attorneys for the clinic have yet to be assigned to the case, court records show.
The case has been assigned to Judge John Durkin.