Senior Trial Partner, Christopher A. Terzian, and Senior Associate, Christopher J. Daniel, achieved a unanimous Jury verdict for the defense in Supreme Court, Orange County, in a wrongful death case involving allegations of patient mismanagement by MCB's client anesthesiologist in the Labor and Delivery PACU of the codefendant hospital following an emergency cesarean section delivery by the co-defendant obstetrician, who settled before trial. The plaintiff alleged that the decedent mother died due to the malpractice of MCB's client and the hospital’s nursing staff.
During the trial, Mr. Terzian established through cross-examination of plaintiff's expert critical care physician and expert anesthesiologist, that the settling obstetrician committed medical malpractice by failing to recognize a complication from her emergency C-section, which caused the decedent to experience intra-abdominal bleeding and, ultimately, death.
The plaintiff's experts also conceded on cross-examination that the obstetrician's malpractice was the primary cause of the young mother's death. As a result of this testimony, Mr. Terzian was able to obtain a directed verdict against the settling obstetrician, which allowed for an instruction on the verdict sheet to the jury that the Court had determined the obstetrician had deviated from the standard of care, and that her negligence had proximately caused the decedent's death.
Mr. Terzian also established, through his direct examination of his expert anesthesiologist and expert critical care physician, our client anesthesiologist's treatment was within the standard of care, and there were no signs of intra-abdominal bleeding after our client’s care was rendered.
Plaintiff argued that our client anesthesiologist was part of a team of physicians managing the decedent, and should have suspected intra-abdominal bleeding and advised the settling obstetrician so she could perform surgery to address same. Mr. Terzian established the anesthesiologist was not part of a team of physicians but that the patient was being managed exclusively by the co-defendant obstetrician. Mr. Terzian also established the obstetrician considered on her differential diagnosis intra-abdominal bleeding, but failed to appreciate the need to return the decedent to the operating room for an emergency exploratory laparotomy. The decedent experienced a cardiac arrest about four hours after the C-section due to severe blood loss, and died nine days later.
The jury also rendered a defense verdict in favor of the co-defendant hospital on claims of direct liability for nursing care and vicarious liability for the care by MCB's client anesthesiologist.
On summation, plaintiff's counsel sought a total damages award of $25 million which included conscious pain and suffering and pecuniary loss. After deliberating for a mere 30minutes, the jury rendered a unanimous verdict in favor of both defendants.