July 17, 2007

On July 25, 2003, Plaintiff underwent a bilateral thoracoscopic cervical sympathectomy to treat hyperhidrosis, a condition which causes excessive sweating.  The Plaintiff suffered axillary and palmar sweating and had exhausted all conservative treatment.  Immediately after surgery, Plaintiff complained of severe pain in the right neck, shoulder and arm and was later diagnosed as suffering from complex regional pain syndrome secondary to brachial plexopathy.  Plaintiff subsequently filed suit, alleging that the Lexington vascular surgeon performed the surgery at the wrong level, thereby causing injury to the brachial plexus.  The defense, led by Donald Brown and Michael Dailey, countered that surgery was performed at the appropriate level, and the resulting brachial plexopathy injury occurred due to positioning.  More specifically, the defense maintained that despite the Plaintiff being positioned properly, she suffered a compression injury to the brachial plexus.  After five days of trial, the Fayette County jury needed less than two hours to return a unanimous defense verdict in favor of the local vascular surgeon, awarding none of the $8 million sought.