Spinal Surgery Case Nearly Resulting in Death of a Patient

The young mother was 34 years old when she underwent a spinal surgery called posterior lumbar interbody fusion (“PLIF”). During surgery, the defendant surgeon inserted surgical instruments called shavers too deeply into her body and lacerated two major blood vessels. As a result, the patient bled profusely, required infusion of 20 units of blood, suffered hypovolemic shock, stroke and multi-organ failure. The patient was left with permanent brain injury and functional impairments.

Working with our co-counsel, we showed the jury the three safety steps a surgeon can take during PLIF to prevent the injuries the patient suffered in the case, and argued that it was the standard of care to use all three. The defendant contended he utilized all three safety steps during the patient’s procedure, and that her injury was just a risk of the procedure. We proved to the jury that the medical records and the physical evidence proved that the surgeon skipped all three safety steps. The jury returned a verdict of $2.5 million.