$1.5 Million recovery in surgical malpractice case for failure of physicians to properly remove kidney

July, 2002

In a confidential high-low settlement following a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs, Feldman Shepherd attorneys Carol Nelson Shepherd and Daniel J. Mann obtained a $1.5 million recovery for the Estate of a surviving wife for the wrongful death of her husband as a result of surgical error.

The husband plaintiff died as a result of the defendant surgeon’s failure to properly tie off an artery during a nephrectomy (kidney removal surgery). As a result of this error, the patient suffered a massive hemorrhage in his hospital room three hours after the completion of the surgery, and died.

During the trial, Feldman Shepherd attorneys presented expert testimony from a prominent urologic surgeon, who concluded that the defendants did not adequately visualize, suture and cut the artery during the procedure. Admissions obtained by Ms. Shepherd at the depositions of the defendant physicians established that sutures competently placed should not come undone in the immediate post-operative period. Medical illustrations designed especially for the case permitted the jury to visualize how a surgeon should remove a kidney and properly suture the arteries which supply blood to the kidney.