$10.35M Settlement After Doctors Fail to Diagnose Virus

Phillip Tauriello, 42, was left with cognitive defects in addition to his blindness and paralysis after doctors failed to detect and treat a virus that caused inflammation in the brain, his suit claims…law.com, $10.35M Settlement After Doctors Fail to Diagnose Virus, September 2024, Charles Toutant

Tauriello had a history of multiple sclerosis and was unable to work but was living independently before the onset of the virus, the suit claims.

Tauriello went to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick in June 2018 with complaints of a severe headache. He was taking Tysabri, an immunosuppressant drug used to treat MS. Tests for exacerbation of MS proved to be negative, and he was treated with migraine medications and steroids and discharged four days later.

Roughly 36 hours after he was discharged, when he did not respond to relatives’ calls and texts, Tauriello was found at home, lying in his bathtub, after a friend broke down the front door. Tauriello acted disoriented, confused and combative.

Tauriello was taken to Hunterdon Medical Center, where he underwent a test of the cerebral spinal fluid and other tests. He was put on antibiotics and an antiviral called Acyclovir. Tauriello stayed at Hunterdon for two weeks, then was sent to a rehabilitation center. At the rehab center, he experienced fainting episodes, and was taken to Monmouth Medical Center. At that hospital he was given the proper tests and was diagnosed with VZV, but at that point there was little that could be done to prevent the blindness or paralysis.

A suit was filed in September 2020, with defendants that included Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, the parent of Robert Wood Johnson, as well as Hunterdon Medical Center and multiple individuals named as defendants. The parties held a mediation session with Raymond Reddin, a former Superior Court Judge who is now with Hall Booth Smith in Saddle Brook. Reddin continued to have mediation communications with the parties for the next year. On June 25, with a July 15 trial date approaching, a $10.35 million settlement was reached in a session with Middlesex County Presiding Civil Judge Michael Cresitello Jr.