On December 9th, a Will County jury found in favor of a local spine surgeon following a six-day medical malpractice trial in which the plaintiff asked the jury to return a $4.5M+ verdict in his favor.
The plaintiff, then age 76, underwent a transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) surgery at an Illinois hospital in October 2020 to treat complaints of low back and leg pain. Following surgery, plaintiff was unable to move his legs. He remained largely in this state up until subsequent surgery in February 2022, when a surgeon at a Chicago hospital performed revision surgery. His ambulation is still not to baseline.
Plaintiff alleged that the defendant surgeon used an incorrect surgical technique and excessive traction with a surgical took to access the space between the spinal bones and perform the fusion. As a result, the spinal nerves which control movement in his legs and feet were damaged. He also alleged that the post-operative decisions made by the surgeon, such as waiting to return him to surgery sooner after the post-op complication was discovered, lessened his chance for a better outcome.
J&B attorneys, Matt Johnson and Sarah Lynam, called as witnesses two experts in spinal surgery who said that nerve injury is a known and recognized complication of surgery and that the long-term complication was caused by movement of a titanium cage which the surgeon placed as part of the fusion. The defendant spine surgeon also articulated his thought process on the timing of return to surgery and post-op decisions in additional radiology studies. After deliberation, the 12-person jury found unanimously in favor of the defendant.
Congratulations to Matt and Sarah for achieving this excellent result for our client.
