Legal Alerts

Brian Burge & Ryan Niehaus Win Medical Malpractice Case

Brian Burge and Ryan Niehaus recently won a five-day jury trial in Jackson County, Missouri in which they defended a general surgery clinic accused of medical malpractice. The plaintiff alleged that surgeons employed by the clinic failed to timely take a patient to surgery to fix a small bowel obstruction and that the patient died as a result. Plaintiff’s expert testified that the surgeons should have taken the patient to surgery 24 hours sooner when a contrast enhanced study showed no contrast in the colon four hours after administration. At trial, the defense elicited expert testimony establishing that earlier surgery was not warranted because the patient never had signs of bowel compromise. The defense expert also referenced peer-reviewed medical literature to establish that waiting to perform the surgery after receiving the contrast study results was appropriate. In closing arguments, Plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury to award up to $1,000,000 in damages. The jury deliberated for two hours before returning a verdict in favor of the defendant surgical clinic and awarded no damages.