MO Supreme Court Sends Wrongful Death Case Back to Marion County

The Missouri Supreme Court sends a wrongful death suit involving a Hannibal physician and a terminally ill patient back to Marion County Circuit Court.

In an opinion issued last week, the court ruled 4-3 that Radiologist Dr. Raman Danrad’s alleged negligence did not cause the death of Joseph Mickels, Sr. in 2009. But the court also said that allegations in the suit could be brought forward in a negligence suit.

Court records indicate Dr. Danrad misread an MRI of Mickels’ brain, then reviewed images from a CT scan two months later and found a number of tumors. Cancer treatments were begun, but Mickels died four months later.

The ruling in the wrongful death suit filed by Mickels’ family went in favor of Danrad, and the Court of Appeals agreed.

The state Supreme Court heard arguments in the case last October.