January 28, 2011

Michael Dailey and David Strite successfully defended a local surgeon against allegations of improper medical care stemming from a laparoscopic gallbladder removal operation. During the procedure, the plaintiff’s common bile duct was inadvertently transected and resected. With the benefit of hindsight, what appeared to the surgeon to be the cystic duct was in reality the common bile duct. Plaintiff criticized the surgeon for misidentifying her anatomy and failing to perform sufficient dissection to locate critical structures in the operation. The defense team countered by noting that all surgery has inherent risks and that the specific complication in this case was due to an anatomical abnormality of plaintiff’s biliary system, not surgeon inattention. A verdict in favor the surgeon followed shortly thereafter.