The husband and daughter of a Mayo woman who died a day after she was discharged from Anne Arundel Medical Center filed suit yesterday in Anne Arundel Circuit Court against the hospital and the physician who performed her surgery.
Terry Madden and his daughter, Regina, both of the 1600 block of Lee Drive, allege that Dr. George Linhardt, an Annapolis physician, contributed to Mary Madden's death when he discharged her from the hospital prematurely Dec. 4, 1991.
According to the suit, Mrs. Madden, 58, was admitted to the hospital Dec. 3, 1991 for a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, a type of gallbladder surgery, which was performed that day.
She was discharged at Dr. Linhardt's orders the next day, despite complaining of shoulder and abdominal pains, and experiencing cold sweats, according to the suit.
Mrs. Madden collapsed and died at her home Dec. 5, 1991, according to the suit.
If the physician or the hospital had ordered the right tests before discharging her, "they would have discovered that Mrs. Madden was suffering from major intra-abdominal complications caused during or by the laparoscopic cholecystectomy," the suit alleges.
The suit names both Dr. Linhardt and the hospital as defendants.
David Levin, Dr. Linhardt's Annapolis lawyer, said yesterday that an autopsy performed by the state medical examiner's office attributed Mrs. Madden's death to "an unrelated heart attack."
He said the autopsy showed there was no connection between the heart attack and the doctor's course of treatment.
"People have heart attacks all the time," he said.
A hospital spokeswoman yesterday declined comment.
The suit seeks more than $80,000 in damages on counts of negligence, failure to obtain informed consent and two separate counts of wrongful death.