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Doctor backs
care home in trial of
resident’s deathThe care-home operator is
By Suzanne Tswei
charged with manslaughter
Star-BulletinA 79-year-old woman did not die from sepsis, a systemic inflammatory response syndrome, but from a heart attack, a doctor testified in behalf of a care-home operator accused of neglect that resulted in the elderly woman's death.
Dr. Steven Berman said yesterday he could not find evidence to support the state's contention that Chiyeko Tanouye died of sepsis on Aug. 10. Instead, Tanouye died of cardiac arrest suffered while on her way to Kapiolani Medical Center at Pali Momi, he said.
Raquel Bermisa, operator of the care home where Tanouye was placed, was charged in what is believed to be the first manslaughter prosecution in the nation of a care home operator for neglect that resulted in death by massive infection. Bermisa pleaded no contest earlier but is seeking to withdraw her plea.
Bermisa said yesterday that she would not have pleaded no contest in a plea agreement with the state in February if she knew she could have used experts, such as Berman. Her attorney at the time told her any experts needed to be hired from the mainland, she said.
"I wasn't aware I could get an opinion from a medical expert," Bermisa told Circuit Court Judge Richard Perkins during a hearing. Perkins will decide whether to allow her to enter a new plea.
Her current attorney, William Harrison, contacted Berman in March for his expertise. Berman is a doctor in private practice in Honolulu and director for infection control for St. Francis Medical Center.
Harrison argued that Bermisa should be allowed to withdraw her no-contest plea because Berman's findings are new evidence that absolves her of the death. Bermisa had believed her omissions in the care of Tanouye resulted in sepsis and then death, and agreed to plea no contest in return for a one-year prison term, he said.
But Berman's findings are not grounds to change Bermisa' plea, said Deputy Attorney General Michael Parrish. Berman is "not a credible expert" and his findings are not valid because they are based only on reviewing written records for two to three hours, Parrish said.
The request to withdraw the plea and plea agreement "is simply an attempt to manipulate the process," he said. "It's simply because the defendant has cold feet and doesn't want to go to jail."
The state said Tanouye died a painful death caused by open sores eating away rotting flesh to the bone. Bermisa is accused of failing to provide proper medical attention for Tanouye, who was diagnosed with symptoms of pressure sores in June last year.
