On August 3, 2020, Partner, James F. Farrell, Jr., assisted by Senior Associate, Michelle C. Acosta, secured a defense verdict on behalf of a Suffolk County Neuroradiologist in Supreme Court, Suffolk County. This was a continuation of a medical malpractice action in which the trial had started on February 11, 2020 and continued until March 16, 2020 when trial was suspended due to the pandemic. The trial resumed on July 27, 2020 and resulted in a unanimous verdict for the defendant on August 3rd. The action was brought on behalf of a then 2 month old male in which it was claimed that the defendant failed to diagnose the presence of a arachnoid cyst in the right middle cranial fossa, which was found on an MRI performed 18 months later and had grown to approximately 9 cm in its greatest dimension. Plaintiff’s counsel claimed there was a failure to timely diagnose and treat the arachnoid cyst causing compression of the brain and neurological injuries rendering the child cognitively impaired and in need of lifetime care.
The defense argued that the plaintiff was not injured by the cyst, the child’s brain had failed to develop normally and there was a complete absence of radiological evidence and/or neurological signs or symptoms related to the presence of the cyst. The defense also argued that the subsequent MRI failed to disclose evidence of compression or injury to the brain. The defense also argued that the child’s condition was caused by Autism, which is of genetic origin although a specific genetic defect had not been identified.
After a trial that spanned six weeks before the pandemic and an additional week starting July 27, 2020, the jury returned a unanimous defense verdict in favor of our client despite plaintiff’s request for $5,750,000 in past and future pain and suffering, approximately $3,000,000 in future lost wages and millions of dollars for therapies and lifetime custodial care.
