Recent Results

Tyler Batteese and Brian Agliano secured a defense verdict for a radiologist in a medical malpractice case in Marion County.  This was a wrongful death case brought by the husband of a 65-year-old woman who was referred by her primary for a CT of the chest with a history of a cough and smoking.  The defendant radiologist correctly identified a lung nodule highly suspicious for cancer and recommended follow up studies.  The primary care physician claimed to have never seen the report that had been faxed to his office.  Plaintiff claimed that this was a fatal miscommunication resulting in a 15-month delay in diagnosis and treatment of the cancer that resulted in the patient’s death.  At trial, the defense established that the radiologist reasonably communicated the findings to the primary care physician via fax and that no verbal communication was required under the circumstances.  After a contentious week long trial, the jury agreed and returned a defense verdict in 40 minutes.

Ron Josepher and Brendan Rowe secured a defense verdict for an anesthesia and pain management physician in a week long trial where it was alleged, he left a foreign body behind during a procedure to remove a morphine pain pump. They were able to convince a jury that it was a reasonable and frequent occurrence that a portion of an intrathecal catheter, which is placed during the installation subcutaneously below the skin, to become retained when a Morphine pump and catheter are later removed. This is particularly likely when the pump and catheter have been in place for several years, as was this case which had been placed five years prior. Moreover, even if it is recognized that a portion of the rubber catheter was not removed during the surgery, they were able to show the jury that it would be unreasonable and potentially more harmful to the patient to begin an expedition to search for the retained portion and, if found, dissect it out.

Tyler Batteese & Brian Agliano won a defense verdict for their internal medicine physician client in a two-week wrongful death trial. The patient died from endocarditis which was alleged should have been diagnosed or at least further investigated based on his presentation to the doctor’s office. The widow claimed he presented due to high fever, whereas the doctor claimed and noted that the reason for the visit was low back pain. Despite poor record keeping in which not only was the word “fever” initially circled then crossed out, and the patient’s temperature was not documented, the defense was able to convince the jury that the doctor’s recollection of the visit was the correct version of the events and that the 82 year old widow was simply mistaken about why her husband saw him prior to his admission where he was diagnosed.

Ron Josepher and Tyler Batteese obtained a defense verdict in a three-week trial for a family physician who was alleged to have mismanaged a patient’s anticoagulation causing an intracranial hemorrhage, causing a massive stroke and requiring the patient to have brain surgery to remove the clot. In addition to having to defend the doctor’s care the plaintiffs alleged that his practice was negligent in hiring him due to his past felony conviction for fraud that the court allowed into evidence. Despite these obstacles Mr. Josepher and Mr. Batteese were able to convince the jury to return a verdict for the defense.

Tyler Batteese and Brian Agliano won a defense verdict for a nurse and the oncology practice she worked for in a two-week trial. The plaintiff alleged that the nurse utilized improper technique in flushing the chemotherapy port of the patient resulting in the port fracturing and a portion of it embolizing into the patient’s heart which lead to open heart surgery to retrieve. The defense was able to demonstrate to the jury that the nurse did not use excessive force and that the cause of the embolization of the fragment was due to a product defect. A bio-mechanical engineer expert previously employed by the manufacture of the port and catheter was called by the defense. He conducted testing of the same equipment in his lab and was able to show the jury that the fracture could not have been due to nursing care but was due to a defect in the product.