Two legal cases involving spine patients and physicians came to a close in the past week:
1. Three physicians were cleared in a spine patient’s $3 million lawsuit that alleged his diagnosis was delayed. A jury ruled that emergency medicine physician Ronald Keller, DO; pain management physician Joseph Galate, MD, and orthopedic surgeon Alexander Bailey, MD, weren’t liable in the patient’s claim, the report said. The patient suffered a work-related injury and saw the physicians for care.
2. A jury awarded $27 million to a couple who alleged a spinal cord stimulator led to a man’s permanent spine injuries. The man was admitted to Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, Fla., for a spine surgery that involved placement of a spinal cord stimulator, the report said. After surgery, he reported signs of spinal cord compression from a hematoma. Complications left him partially paralyzed, and experts in the trial argued that nurses failed to properly evaluate him and recognize signs of a potential spinal cord injury. The jury found the hospital 75% responsible for the man’s injuries, and the surgical team was 25% liable.
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