Man sues UPMC over COVID test
A Monroeville man is suing UPMC after a misread COVID-19 test and a phone call that forced him to cancel his wedding.
“I think the physician assistant was transparent because she was crying on the phone,” Martin said. “We were both crying. She was trying to make it good. I'm not getting this money back. She said, ‘I don't think I can do that,’ and I said, ‘I need to speak to someone that can.’ That was the most emotional part of it."
Michael Martin says back in July of 2020, just days before he and his fiancée were set to be married, he didn't feel well.
After going to UPMC Mercy South Side a test showed he had strep throat, but was later told he had COVID.
As a result Martin and his fiancée had to cancel their Aug. 1 wedding. Not long after, Martin learned that a physician assistant made an error with his test.
“I wasn’t positive,” Martin said. “It wasn’t a false negative. It wasn't anything other than negligence on not doing what she was supposed to do on that computer.”
The couple eventually were able to get married.
UPMC Community Medicine Primary Care Partners of Monroeville, UPMC and the physician assistant who reported the positive test result are named in the lawsuit.
Pittsburgh's Action News 4 reached out to UPMC for comment on the lawsuit, but we have not heard back.