Senior Trial Partner Jeff Lawton won a defense verdict in Queens County in a case involving an alleged perforation following a first trimester termination of pregnancy procedure on a 20-year-old patient. Plaintiff claimed that the defendant gynecologist negligently performed the procedure, perforating the uterus with the surgical instruments and failed to explore for the possibility of a perforation with the use of an additional curette. The defense explained that perforation during an abortion was a known and accepted risk and complication.
The defendant and the experts explained the procedure with anatomical diagrams, photographs of the instruments used, and a sample suction curette. The experts proved there was no perforation found during a subsequent exploratory laparotomy and instead, the plaintiff had a subclinical infection. Finally, the experts explained the use of an additional curette to explore for a perforation, was not the standard of care and would only increase the likelihood of a perforation or the spread of an infection.