Family of prominent CT doctor offers to settle wrongful death lawsuit. They want $22.5M.

The family of a doctor who died after surgery for a perforated intestine has offered to settle a wrongful death lawsuit against Yale New Haven Hospital and several doctors for $22.5 million.

Dr. Jacqueline Rosemarie Satchell of New Haven died Oct. 7, 2020 at Yale New Haven Hospital.

She had been assistant professor of medicine at the Yale Medical School and medical director for the Women’s Health Clinic at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in West Haven. The center was later renamed the Dr. Jacqueline Satchell Women’s Center .

Satchell, born in Jamaica, was 51 at her death. She had wanted to be a doctor since she was 6, according to her obituary . She immigrated to New Haven at 17, attended Hillhouse High School, the University of Connecticut and Temple University, where she earned her medical degree.

She had a particular interest in treating underserved populations and completed externships in Anchorage, Alaska, and Harare, Zimbabwe, according to the lawsuit , filed in Superior Court in New Haven.

On Oct. 2, 2020, Satchell went to Yale New Haven Hospital with abdominal pain and was diagnosed with a perforated intestine and fecal peritonitis, requiring removal of four liters of pus from her abdomen and several sections of her intestines, according to the suit.

She was then sent to intensive care, where she began to decline the next day, the suit states.

“Yet in the hours and days that followed — even as nurses alerted doctors to Dr. Jackie’s clinical decline, and physicians documented worsening kidney function and clinical indicators of infection — no nephrology or infectious disease consultations were requested,” the suit states.

“Nor was Dr. Jackie returned to the operating room to identify a culprit,” it states.

The lawsuit states that Yale New Haven finally took action on Oct. 6, but “It was too late.” She could not be transported to the operating room and surgeons operated on her in her hospital room. She died the next day, the suit states.

In addition to Yale New Haven, the suit names Yale University and five surgeons.

The suit claims medical negligence on the part of Yale New Haven Hospital for, among other things, not adequately and properly formulating and documenting “a differential diagnosis for one or more of the following: perforated cecum, feculent peritonitis, intraabdominal abscess, abdominal compartment syndrome, volume overload, acute kidney disfunction.”

As a result, Satchell suffered from sepsis, shock, multisystem organ failure, respiratory failure, excruciating pain, among other symptoms, as well as death, the suit states.

A spokesman for Yale New Haven issued a statement saying, “Yale New Haven Hospital is aware of this lawsuit and is committed to providing the safest and highest quality of care possible, however, we are unable to comment on pending litigation.”

During the inaugural Dr. Jackie Satchell Honorary Grand Rounds on Nov. 4, 2021, Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, associate dean for health equity research at the Yale medical school, reminisced about Satchell, who was one of the first people she met when she arrived at Yale in 2004, according to a medical school article .

“One of my fondest memories is sitting at her kitchen table — her girls were running around — and we had just the best conversation and connection around the importance of health equity, about connecting with community, about being in that posture of service to those who are marginalized and minoritized,” Nunez-Smith said in the article.

“And I know that for so many of us, Jackie remains that North Star in the way she conducted herself with us as colleagues, with her family, with her patients, and with her many communities that were lucky to call her ‘member,’” she said.

Satchell’s daughter, Erica Jones, is serving as administratrix for her mother’s estate. When she died, Satchell left her husband, Scott Jones, a second daughter, Alissa Jones, and her mother, Gloria Beckford.

Jeffrey Wisnery and Kathleen Nastri of Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder in Bridgeport are representing the estate. Kevin Budge and Catherine Baiocchi of Wiggin & Dana in New Haven are representing the defendants.

Ed Stannard can be reached at estannard@courant.com .