According to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, a Middlesex Superior Court jury's verdict that an orthopedic surgeon should not be held responsible for the death of a patient who suffered a massive pulmonary embolism days after undergoing knee surgery was overturned by the judge. Ruling in the case of Howard v. Brassard, , Lawyers Weekly No. 12-065, that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence, Judge Thomas P. Billings, a District Court Judge, granted a plaintiff's motion for a new trial.
The decedent, John L. Howard injured his knee while playing basketball in March 2004. He went to the emergency room where doctors found that he had ruptured his patellar tendon. He had a prior knee surgery in 1998 to reconstruct his knee ligament . He subsequently developed deep vein thrombosis and was admitted to the hospital. For the 2004 injury, a second surgery was performed. The plaintiff initially did well, but died within a few weeks of the surgery from a pulmonary embolism. Howard's estate claimed the doctor failed to prescribe medication that could have prevented his death.
During trial experts agreed that the standard of care in 2004 required that a surgical patient known to have this history be given medication following surgery. The defense expert testified on cross examination that most doctors would ask for a history, but when questioned on re-direct, defendant's expert said failure to do so was not a deviation from the standard of care. The jury found that the defendant was responsible but did not deviate from the standard of care. Plaintiff's counsel filed a motion for a new trial based on the weight of the evidence. The judge found that it would be surprising for a surgeon, not to ask about prior surgeries and complications.
The Boston medical malpractice lawyers at Bellotti Law Group, P.C. handle similar types of medical malpratice claims.
