Senior Trial Partner Anthony M. Sola, assisted by Of Counsel Tracy A. Abramson and Associate Jacqueline A. Wild, 聽obtained a defense verdict after a 3 week trial in Supreme Court, Nassau County before Justice Thomas Feinman. 聽 The case involved an allegation that the defendant physicians failed to diagnose a Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) in the lung 聽of a 29 year old woman during her pregnancy. During her entire pregnancy she 聽 complained of 聽a severe cough 聽and chest pain, and, 聽starting in the second trimester, 聽she developed a severe rash over most of her body. 聽A month after her delivery, her family doctor ordered a chest x-ray which soon after led to a diagnosis of a Stage IV DLBCL for which she was treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Medical Center with an experimental therapy protocol. She was still in remission at the time of trial. In retrospect, the cough, chest pain and rash were due to the DLBCL.
At trial, the defense focused on the fact that the plaintiff鈥檚 complaints were outside of their area of expertise so they 聽properly referred the patient to a pulmonary specialist and a dermatologist who were not named defendants. Plaintiff claimed that the obstetricians were acting as her primary care doctor during the pregnancy and failed to coordinate the care and arrange, among other things, 聽for 聽a chest imaging study suggested by one of the pulmonologists. We were able to impeach the credibility of the plaintiff on the issue of who was her primary care physician by introducing a record we uncovered during our 聽pretrial preparation that showed the plaintiff went to a different doctor during her pregnancy at which time she wrote on that doctor鈥檚 intake form the name of 聽a another 聽doctor as her primary 聽care physician. We further were able to demonstrate that the suggestion for 聽a chest imaging study was one that the outside specialist was considering performing and was not a recommendation to the obstetricians to order. Finally, we were able to prove that the patient herself failed to follow up with some of 聽the outside specialists.
The jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendants dismissing the entire complaint. 聽Because the jury did not completely follow the instructions on the 聽verdict sheet, they went further than required and also answered the culpable conduct questions, finding that the plaintiff herself was 100% responsible for any delay in the diagnosis!