Partners Daniel G. Federico & Amanda L. Tate secured a defense verdict in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, following a trial involving allegations against a physician for failure to diagnose a femur fracture, in a two-month old infant, during an Emergency Room presentation.
The case, as originally pled against our clients and others, involved 13 counts of both federal and state law violations, which were pared down to two state law causes of action, following initial Rule 12(b)(6) motions. After nearly a dozen depositions and a subsequent round of motion practice, pursuant to Rule 56, the sole issue left in the case to be tried was a single count of alleged medical malpractice against our clients. The plaintiffs contended that because defendants failed to perform a proper physical examination of the infant, the appropriate diagnostic testing was not conducted and the fracture was ultimately missed at our facility, causing its exacerbation and additional pain and suffering to the infant.
The Defense Team was able to successfully, through the use of motions in limine, eliminate any award for punitive damages and limit the compensatory damages significantly. During trial on cross-examination, defense counsel elicited multiple notable concessions from the plaintiffs’ expert, inclusive of developing, through the use of the records, that our client’s physical examination was comprehensive and consistent with a proper trauma survey. Likewise, on cross, the defense challenged plaintiff’s expert regarding the nature of the fracture and its presentation at the time of the ED visit.. The defense called a pediatric orthopedic surgeon who educated the jury, through the use of a femur model, as to the anatomy of the femur and that the nature and location of this specific fracture would have caused 100% displacement upon presentation of the injury and, in effect, could not have been present at the time of the ED presentation, as contended by plaintiffs. The eight-person jury took just 45 minutes to return a unanimous verdict, finding unequivocally that there were no departures from the standard of care.
Congratulations to Dan and Amanda on a job well-done!