October 10, 2004
A Jefferson County Jury found in favor of a Louisville Emergency Room doctor. The physician examined a man experiencing testicular pain and diagnosed the man with a bacterial infection, epididymitis . Soon afterwards, however, it was realized that the man in fact suffered testicular torsion, and his last remaining testicle (he was already one short) had to be amputated. The Plaintiff alleged negligence in failing to diagnose the torsion, and asked for more than $2,000,000 in damages. The physician, represented by O’Bryan, Brown and Toner, successfully argued that the diagnosis of epididymitis was reasonable considering its prevalence, and that by the time the patient came to the ER, the testicle was already torsed beyond repair, so a correct diagnosis would not have salvaged the testicle anyway.