From $100 Million to $5 Million – A Brain Surgery Malpractice Lawsuit
As originally reported by John Hochfelder, March 12, 2002 was a fateful day for Thomas Dockery. Dockery was a Verizon employee and generally healthy 34 year old. Â Sadly, while sleeping one night, he suffered from a grand mal seizure and was hurried to the hospital. Â According to Hochfelder: Â Â Â “At the hospital, a CT scan was interpreted as normal. An MRI two days later, though, was interpreted as showing a lesion that seemed to be a glioma (a central nervous system tumor) and Dockery was immediately referred to M. Chris Overby, M.D., a neurosurgeon, who concurred. A second opinion from Philip Gutin, M.D. of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan corroborated Dr. Overby’s diagnosis and surgery was set for March 25th. Â Â Â A pre-surgical MRI on March 24th, though, indicated an inconsistent massive edema of the brain and Dockery underwent a craniotomy the next day during which pus in the lesion area was removed and found to be a non-tumorous abscess that had grown rapidly during the prior several days and caused an edema that produced herniation of the brain.” Â Unfortunately, despite the treatment, Mr. Dockery suffered from severe aphasia which damaged his comprehension of language and ability to retain memory. Â Dockery sued the two doctors who were responsible for his treatment, men by the names of Dr. Overby and Dr. Gutin. Â Throughout a complicated trial process, an original finding of over $100 million dollars was eventuall reduced to just over $5 million. The general consensus was that Mr. Dockery’s injuries warranted compensation, but that some of the original monetary values were grossly inflated. Â One of the large takeaways from this case is the unpredictability of brain surgery, and the difficulties faced by both patients and doctors throughout these procedures. * * * If you’d like to learn more about the legal aspects of brain surgery, or if you need a representative, consult The Brain Injury Defense Attorneys at Dolan Legal.
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