October 27, 2008

Medical Malpractice Suit for Pain and Suffering

In Crawford v. Beth Israel Medical Center, a medical malpractice action arose from coronary surgery. The action sought damages for conscious pain and suffering based on defendant surgeon's alleged departures from standards of good and accepted medical practice. During the surgery a pair of clips placed on plaintiff decedent's vein came off causing decedent to hemorrhage in the recovery room and require emergency resuscitation. Defendant surgeon moved to dismiss, contending that a clip can come off absent negligence and that he checked proper clip placement and installation because "[i]t's in the nature of the process to check repeatedly for the integrity of the conduit." The court denied defendant's motion, finding it was not readily apparent that defendant had checked the clips or that he did so adequately. http://www.foleygriffin.com/