Defense Verdict in New York County

HPM&B recently obtained a unanimous defense verdict on behalf of an orthopedic surgeon in a medical malpractice action.  This was a complex orthopedic surgery case involving a 12-year-old girl who suffered severe cartilage damage as a complication to shoulder stabilization surgery.  She ultimately required a humeral head transplant and will need several future surgeries to maintain shoulder stability.  The plaintiff’s attorney asked for $5 million during summation.

The defense, represented at trial by Robert B. Gibson, Esq. and Brendan J. Alt, Esq., established through an internationally renowned orthopedic surgery expert that the cartilage loss and need for additional surgeries were not caused by any wrongdoing by the defendant surgeon.  Rather, the cause of the damages was from idiopathic chondrolysis and recurrent shoulder instability from the patient’s underlying Ehlers-Danlos condition.  After two weeks of testimony, the jury returned a defense verdict within 45 minutes.