On January 21, 2016, Alan J. Fumuso obtained a directed verdict for the Defendant on a Wrongful Death matter tried in Supreme Court Suffolk County. The case involved the death of a 79 year old woman who bled to death on the operating table as a result of a tearing of the right ventricle during a post-open heart surgery attempt to operatively address a sternal wound infection. Plaintiff called as an expert the Medical Examiner who concluded that the cause of death was “mechanical” tearing of the ventricle, secondary to operative “accident”. On cross examination Mr. Fumuso was able to undermine the basis of the opinion of the Medical Examiner. Plaintiff chose not to call an independent medical expert, and proceeded on the theory of Res Ipsa Loquitur. Mr. Fumuso made a motion to dismiss at the conclusion of Plaintiff’s case for failure to establish a prima facie case. This motion, over strenuous Plaintiff’s objection, was granted by the Court, and a directed verdict issued to the Defendant.
