Morrison Mahoney Partner Bill Smart and Associate Will Pearson recently obtained a defense verdict after a 9-day medical malpractice jury trial in U.S. District Court for the District of Maine with the Magistrate Judge Wolf, presiding.
Plaintiff alleged that our client, a physiatrist, and others were negligent in failing to diagnose cervical myelopathy in a 37-year-old patient who was injured at work, ultimately leading to an emergent cervical decompression and fusion with permanent neurological impairment of the left upper and lower extremities. Our client performed nerve conduction studies and an electromyographic, or “EMG,” needle examination that demonstrated a mild, lower trunk brachial plexopathy with no electrodiagnostic evidence of cervical myelopathy, radiculopathy, or other peripheral never injuries or entrapments. Plaintiff argued, among other things, that our client’s history, physical examination and EMG were incomplete; that the diagnosis of brachial plexopathy was therefore unsubstantiated, and could not be differentiated from radiculopathy; and that our client should not have commented on myelopathy. This allegedly caused others to delay ordering a cervical MRI and/or neurosurgical referral until the plaintiff’s condition rapidly worsened about six months later.
Bill and Will presented evidence that, among other things, our client’s exam and testing were reasonable and within standard of care for an “EMG only” of the right upper extremely, and that Plaintiff likely did not develop cervical myelopathy until months later. A neurosurgeon testified for the defense that while Plaintiff probably had degrative cervical spondylosis and stenosis, cervical myelopathy is a clinical diagnosis. He testified that Plaintiff lacked any of the cardinal clinical symptoms of myelopathy at the time of our client’s EMG, and therefore, an earlier MRI and surgical consult likely would not have led to earlier surgical intervention, or a better outcome for the plaintiff. Nine total expert witnesses testified, including four damages experts, plus five fact witnesses. The jury deliberated for about three hours before returning a defense verdict.
