WEIR AND KROKOSKY OBTAIN DEFENSE VERDICT

On October 17, 2012, following a two-and-a-half day jury trial in Washington County (WI), Todd M. Weir and Neal S. Krokosky obtained a jury verdict in favor of a defendant physician.  The plaintiff alleged that the physician, an orthopedic surgeon, committed medical malpractice during a total hip replacement procedure by causing a laceration of her sciatic nerve.  The nerve had been lacerated three quarters of the way through during the total hip replacement surgery.  The nerve was repaired the next day, but the patient was left with a neuropathy of her sciatic nerve.  She has a foot drop and requires an ankle foot orthotic.  Rejecting the plaintiff’s contention, the jury returned a verdict of “no negligence” after deliberating for approximately forty-five minutes.  A key to obtaining the defense verdict was probably the fact that the team at Otjen, Van Ert & Weir located a transcript of prior inconsistent testimony of the plaintiff’s only liability expert.  In the case tried in Washington County, the expert testified that any time the sciatic nerve is lacerated by a saw during total hip replacement surgery the surgeon has violated the standard of care.  In a prior proceeding, when the expert was defending a physician, he testified that lacerations of the sciatic nerve during total hip replacement surgery are unfortunate complications but not malpractice.