Neither doctor named in a medical malpractice lawsuit following the death of Auburn resident Tom Dusel in November 2002 was found to be negligent in the care they provided to Dusel, a jury determined Monday in the state Supreme Court in Cayuga County.

Joanne Dusel, Tom Dusel's widow, brought the lawsuit against Dr. Richard Nangle; Internal Medicine Associates of Auburn, P.C.; Dr. Brian Brundage; and Auburn Memorial Hospital in 2003, claiming that all defendants involved were "careless, grossly negligent, professionally negligent and committed acts or omissions or deviated or departed from acceptable customs, standards and practices," according to court documents.

On Nov. 23, 2002, Tom Dusel experienced throat pains after consuming a shrimp cocktail at a social event earlier in the night. Joanne Dusel called Nangle and shortly afterwards drove her husband to AMH.

Nangle and Brundage both examined Tom Dusel. He was given medication and released.

Dusel woke up choking early in the morning on Nov. 24 with a swollen throat. He suffered respiratory arrest and was taken to AMH where he was intubated and admitted to the intensive care unit before being transferred the following day to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester. He was determined to be brain dead and thereafter pronounced dead.

Kevin Hulslander, attorney for Brundage and AMH, said the jury's decision showed that they believed the doctors reacted reasonably given the symptoms Dusel was displaying.

"I think it's pretty clear that the jury vindicated both doctors," he said. "This was a tragic case, but the doctors both acted in a reasonable fashion and did not deviate from reasonable care."

After five days of testimony, the jury deliberated for less than an hour, which Jeff DeFrancisco, attorney for Joanne Dusel, said made him question the jury's decision.

"There's no way the jury could have possibly considered all the evidence," DeFrancisco said.

DeFrancisco said they would most likely appeal the decision.

Joanne Dusel testified, he said, that Nangle told her a few days after Dusel's death, "I dropped the ball." He also said the doctors admitted to not warning Joanne Dusel about the risks of airway obstruction, infection or allergic reaction.

Hulslander said the Dusels were advised by the doctors to return if conditions worsened and did not immediately return when conditions did get worse.

It was determined, he said, that Dusel died of a rare condition, epiglottitis, which could not be diagnosed at the time. "That was pretty much unrebutted," he said.

DeFrancisco said, however, that a medical witness testified that there were no documented cases of an individual dying from epiglottitis caused by pasteurella multocida, the bacteria that caused the infection, and contended that the doctors should have recognized it.

Joanne Dusel did not want to comment, but DeFrancisco said, on behalf of the Dusel family, that the family found it difficult to believe that a six-panel jury could deliberate for only 50 minutes after five days of testimony and exhibits.

"They watched their loved one suffer a painful death," he said. "Tom Dusel went to the Auburn Memorial Hospital emergency room complaining of neck pain and difficulty swallowing and after a 10-minute exam, he was released."

AMH administrator Brendan McGrath said the hospital believed the correct decision had been made.

"At no point did we think that anything but appropriate care had been rendered by the hospital or the physicians involved," McGrath said.

Staff writer Anne Gleason can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or at anne.gleason@lee.net