After highlighting 10 “must watch” medical malpractice trials in Courtroom View Network’s trial video library ending in plaintiff verdicts, it’s time to showcase 10 of the most impressive medmal trials in CVN’s archive that ended with defense verdicts.
In an era of shrinking newsroom budgets defense verdicts like these often fall through the cracks, but for CVN they are among the most important cases we cover.
1. Avalos v. Dobkin (Los Angeles County Superior Court, CA)
Surgeon Cleared In 1st Trial Over Alleged Off-Label Use Of Medtronic’s ‘Infuse’ Spinal Implant
CVN screenshot of defense attorney Dennis Ames delivering his closing argument
Link to gavel-to-gavel trial video and full attorney/witness details:
https://cvn.com/proceedings/christina-avalos-v-medtronic-inc-et-al-trial-2018-03-12
Defense counsel: LaFollette Johnson PC
Why you should watch: A California state court jury delivered a defense verdict in 2018 for a surgeon accused of engaging in “off-label” use of medical device company Medtronic’s “Infuse” spinal implant on a patient without her consent, in the first such case to go to trial.
The Los Angeles County jury decided 11-1 that Dr. William Dobkin, a spinal surgeon at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, was not negligent in his use of Infuse to treat plaintiff Christina Avalos’ chronic back pain, and that he obtained the proper consent before using the implant during her two lumbar surgeries.
Avalos, a nurse, claimed she would never have allowed Dobkin to use Infuse if she knew that it was not approved by the Food & Drug Administration for use in lumbar surgeries. Her attorney told jurors that the Infuse implant, which contains a synthetic protein meant to stimulate bone growth, caused excessive bone growth in Avalos, that left her suffering from chronic, disabling pain.
More via the CVN News Blog: https://blog.cvn.com/surgeon-cleared-in-1st-trial-over-alleged-off-label-use-of-medtronics-infuse-spinal-implant
2.) Wilson v. Chapman, et al. (King County Superior Court, WA)
Hospital Prevails At First Trial Over Johnson & Johnson’s Allegedly Deadly Bone Cement
Defense attorney Michael Madden delivering his closing argument
Link to gavel-to-gavel trial video and full attorney/witness details:
https://cvn.com/proceedings/wilson-et-al-v-chapman-et-al-trial-2016-06-27
Defense counsel: Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Reed Smith LLP, Blanke Rome LLP, Betts Patterson Mines, Bennett Bigelow & Weedom
Why you should watch: A state court jury sided with the University of Washington and one of its physicians in 2018 in the first case to go to trial over the use in spine surgery of injectable bone cement manufactured by Johnson & Johnson unit Synthes, that a grandmother’s family claimed caused her sudden death during routine back surgery.
A 12-member jury deliberated for more than three days – at one point telling the judge they were nearly deadlocked – before deciding 10-2 that 67-year-old Reba Golden’s death in 2007 wasn’t caused by any negligence on the part of her surgeon, Dr. Jens Chapman, or UW’s Harborview Medical Center. Golden’s attorneys claimed Chapman injected Synthes’ Norian bone cement into her spine despite the FDA not approving it for that use, and that he failed to warn Golden of the cement’s potential to cause fatal bleeding and blood clots.