YOUNGSTOWN — A jury in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court found a Boardman doctor negligent in the care of a 20-year-old Columbiana woman who died in 2018, and awarded the woman’s estate $2 million in damages.

The jury last week found in favor of the estate of Megan Clay against Dr. Richard P. Pearlstein and Fifth Avenue Otolaryngologists Inc., both of Glenwood Avenue in Boardman. The case was heard by Judge Anthony D’Apolito.

Clay died March 31, 2018, in Mercy Health Boardman Hospital after being taken there from home for bleeding following a tonsillectomy performed March 29 at Salem Regional Medical Center, according to court documents.

Pearlstein did not perform the tonsillectomy.

Megan Clay’s mother, Christine Clay, called 911 and had Megan taken to St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital about 9:30 p.m. March 30 after Megan experienced significant bleeding, according to a news release from attorney Brian Kopp, who represented the Clays in the legal action.

When Megan Clay arrived at the Boardman hospital, emergency room staff determined that she had experienced significant bleeding, her blood pressure was low and she was in shock, the news release states.

“Appropriate interventions were taken, the bleeding ceased and a surgical consultation was sought. Dr. Richard Pearlstein determined that surgical intervention was needed, and an operative team was assembled,” the Kopp news release states. Megan Clay went into surgery about 11:30 p.m. March 30.

The news release states that Megan Clay went into cardiac arrest and died while attempts were made to secure an airway by performing a tracheotomy. “The jury had to determine whether Pearlstein obtained an emergent surgical airway in an appropriate amount of time,” the Kopp news release states.

Attorneys Michael Hudak, Megan Millich and Jessica Sanderson represented Pearlstein and Fifth Avenue Otolaryngologists. Attempts to get a comment from them for this story were not successful.

A Nov. 4 trial brief filed by all of the parties that listed the witnesses who would testify during the trial stated that Pearlstein would be testifying “as to his care and treatment of Ms. Clay, including that his decision to attempt to intubate before proceeding to a surgical airway was appropriate and accepted, that the instrumentation that he needed to perform a tracheotomy was readily available and that there was no delay in securing the surgical airway.”

The Kopp news release states that “Dr. Pearlstein denied any negligence and presented expert testimony that he had met the standard of care for a surgeon under similar circumstances. He also maintained that the cardiac arrest was a result of blood loss beyond his control.

“During the trial, the defense called a board-certified anesthesiologist and a board-certified otolaryngologist. Both experts testified that appropriate care was provided. The otolaryngologist also testified that Pearlstein followed proper protocols and obtained a surgical airway as was evidenced by the autopsy,” the release states.

erunyan@vindy.com