February 2019

Sean Capplis and Tom Dolan secured defense verdicts for a surgeon and his corporation. The surgeon was accused of wrong site surgery and the corporation’s liability was founded under the theory of vicarious liability. The plaintiff produced photographic evidence of a bulging ventral abdominal hernia that he claimed required surgery in lieu of the performed umbilical hernia. The defense maintained that the patient was properly consented for a necessary umbilical hernia despite the apparent obvious nature of the preexisting abdominal hernia. The defense elicited testimony from the plaintiff that he would “pop” the protruding tissue back inside the abdominal hernia defect allowing the defense to argue that on initial exam the abdominal hernia may not have been so obvious. The surgeon repaired the abdominal hernia three days later following the umbilical hernia repair and both surgeries were performed successfully. The jury returned a unanimous verdict after a six day trial which included the lead author on Up To Date on hernia repair as an expert for the defense.