DEAD PATIENT'S KIN SUING HOSPITAL.

Byline: Don Holland Daily News Staff Writer

The relatives of a woman who died after heart surgery at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks have filed suit, claiming that doctors used a defective device and negligently cut a major artery.

Pamela Junkins, 61, of Camarillo died last October, a day after she underwent surgery to replace a valve using the so-called Heartport device, according to the suit filed in Ventura County Superior Court by her husband, William D. Junkins, and their adult children.

Because doctors performed the operation through a small hole or ``port,'' instead of the traditional open-chest incision, they could not see that Junkins' aorta had been cut by a Heartport catheter, said the family's attorney, Phillip Nieman.

``This woman went in for this procedure, essentially thinking it was going to be simple and quick,'' he said. ``When they dissected her aorta, it was a complete dissection. . . . She was bleeding to death, so they had to open her up using the normal procedure.''

Doctors worked 11 hours to repair the aorta, Nieman said, but the surgery was unsuccessful.

Dr. Mohammad Gharavi of Thousand Oaks, who performed the operation, said patient confidentiality and the pending lawsuit prevented him from commenting on the case. Dr. Gholan Mohammadzadeh, the assistant surgeon who is also named in the suit, did not return a phone call.

Heartport Inc., based in Redwood City, develops surgical equipment that allows doctors to operate through small openings rather than making the 12- to 15-inch incision used in traditional open-heart surgery.

Heartport claims its minimally invasive procedures have success rates on par with traditional heart surgery - with less trauma, pain and shorter hospital stays.

Although the lawsuit alleges that the defendants did not fully explain all the risks of the surgery, Heartport literature says such microsurgery poses the same risks as open-heart surgery, including possible damage to major blood vessels.