Cervical Injury Stabilization
This case involved a 72–year–old male patient with a history of degenerative disc disease, kyphosis, and ankylosing spondylitis with fusion of C2–C6. The patient was involved in an MVA and transported to the hospital with multiple abrasions, bruises, and complaints of lower extremity weakness. X-rays and CT revealed [...]
Cervical Spine Injury
A 34-year-old male was involved in an MVA in which he suffered significant cervical spine fractures. He presented to the defendant institution for evaluation and treatment. An x-ray, CT, and MRI were all done that evening which showed fractures of the C6 and C7 facets bilaterally, a burst fracture [...]
Stroke & tPA
This case involved a 51-year-old man with a history of multiple myeloma, amyloidosis, hypertension, and hypercalcemia who awoke around 2:30 am unable to speak or hold himself up on his right side. His wife reported he had gone to bed at 11 pm the previous night after having a [...]
Total Hip Replacement
This case involved a 45-year-old woman who had undergone a transvaginal tape suspension (TVT) and rectocele repair in February 2004. Postoperatively she complained of left groin pain and tests revealed a small cortical cyst in the left femoral head so she was sent for an orthopedic evaluation. Her [...]
Adhesions
This case involved a female patient who had a 5 cm cyst on her right ovary. She underwent surgery for removal of the cyst with possible oophorectomy. During the operation, her surgeon encountered dense adhesions throughout her abdomen. Extensive adhesiolysis was carried out in order to better visualize the [...]
Retained Foreign Body
The female plaintiff presented to the defendant with abdominal pain and after a sonogram indicated a pelvic mass, the defendant performed an exploratory laparotomy. Intraoperatively, as the defendant entered the abdominal cavity, he used moistened lap pads to position the small bowel up and away from the operative site. [...]
Bile Duct Injury
This case involved middle-aged male who presented with multiple gallstones in the gallbladder, one of which was lodged in the gallbladder neck. The defendant performed a laparoscopic cholecystectomy on 10/23/06. Upon visualization of the surgical field, the defendant encountered multiple adhesions, which required tedious dissection. After decompression of [...]
Lumbar Nerve Root
This case involved a 19-year-old male patient who had a history of low back pain for about a year and was reporting severe, constant, and aching lower back pain of 8-9 on a scale of 10, as well as radicular right leg pain, decreased sensation on the right, difficulty [...]
Thoracic Spine Fusion
This case involved an obese male patient with a multi-year history of lower leg pain and numbness. He eventually underwent decompression and fixation of the thoracic spine. After the procedure, he experienced pain relief but was unable to move his legs. A CT showed one of the pedicle [...]
Lower Extremity Amputation
This case involved a previously healthy 67-year-old male patient who presented with nearly fatal urosepsis from kidney stones. During this acute illness, he developed multisystem organ failure that required aggressive treatment. He survived the event, but sustained serious microvascular injury to his fingers and toes although his large vessels [...]
Hernia Repair
This case involved a middle-aged male patient with bilateral inguinal hernias. The right side had both direct and indirect hernia, so the defendant repaired it with pre-cut mesh. The left side had smaller direct and indirect hernias, as well as an incarceration of a loop of the sigmoid. The [...]
Gastric Bypass
This case involved a morbidly obese woman who underwent a vertical banded gastroplasty with Roux-en-Y. The procedure was performed through an open incision because the patient was undergoing a cholecystectomy and a ventral hernia repair during the same surgery. The bypass was uneventful, a gastrostomy tube was placed, [...]
Bladder Cancer
This case involved a middle-aged male patient diagnosed with carcinoma in situ of the bladder. At the time of diagnosis, doctors found no signs of metastasis. Further complicating the patient’s course was a long-standing history of severe kidney disease preventing use of any contrast for radiology studies. The [...]
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
This case involved a patient who underwent an endoscopic carpal tunnel surgery. During the procedure, the patient’s hand was dropped during transfer. Postoperatively he experienced transient neuropraxia. The defense in this case hinged on the jury’s ability to understand the anatomy of the carpal tunnel so that they could [...]
Ureter Injury
Generally speaking, gynecologic surgery accounts for over 50% of all ureteral injuries resulting from operations. Hysterectomy of any type is usually a safe procedure, but any surgery has risks, such as blood loss, blood clots, infection, damage to surrounding organs, and reactions to anesthesia. Surgery involving the organs [...]