December 15, 2008

Tracy Prewitt successfully defended a neurosurgeon in Daviess Circuit Court in Owensboro, Kentucky regarding a surgical patient’s development of a post-operative ileus and subsequent bowel perforation.  Although the decompression surgery performed by the neurosurgeon was successful, Plaintiffs alleged that the neurosurgeon had the duty to diagnose and treat the post-operative abdominal condition.  The defense team countered that the patient was seen daily in the hospital by physicians from the neurosurgery service for treatment related to the back surgery, that the neurosurgeon had specifically consulted the patient’s regular internist to follow the patient for general medical conditions, and that the internist was appropriately treating the suspected abdominal ileus.  Plaintiffs sought more than $2.5 million in damages.  After hearing testimony over the course of seven days, the jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of the doctor, awarding no damages.