HOBART | St. Mary Medical Center staff exercised the appropriate skill and care regarding Margaret Creviston, attorney James L. Hough said Thursday. A jury recently awarded her estate $938,000 after her husband, Ronald Creviston, sued the hospital for medical malpractice. She died Nov. 7, 2001, from a series of complications.

Hough, of Spangler, Jennings & Dougherty P.C. of Merrillville, represented St. Mary in the case. The 55-year-old Merrillville woman died after one of her lungs had been punctured by an IV, he said.

Ronald Creviston had argued that the failure of medical staff to detect partial dentures that had lodged deep in her throat had led to his wife's death.

Hough said in a statement: "If an unexpected complication arises, the matter is taken very seriously and every effort is made to provide information to the patient and their family regarding the situation. That is exactly what happened during the care of Margaret Creviston in 2001.

"When the complication of a dental appliance was discovered, St. Mary personnel met with the Creviston family immediately in an effort to fully disclose what was known at the time and to answer the family's questions."

While a jury found against St. Mary, Hough pointed out that a medical review panel of three independent physicians who are not affiliated with St. Mary found that the care Margaret Creviston received "was fully appropriate and was not related, in any way, to her death."

In addition, the chairman of the Department of Medicine at Loyola University Hospital in Chicago reviewed the case and concluded that "Creviston died from her underlying lung disease, not from any lack of care."

St. Mary currently is reviewing its options including a possible appeal and has not reached a decision as to the next step it will take, Hough's statement said.