Fact-Checked: Why Trust Rittgers Rittgers & Nakajima A recent medical malpractice case was tried by Lindsay Lawrence and Matt Nakajima in Hamilton County, Ohio before Judge Wagner. This was a zero-offer case by the defense and their insurance company.
The facts involved a 43-year-old woman went to an OBGYN, a new doctor she never met, for left sided pelvic pain. He did an ultrasound two days later and found a cyst the size of a tennis ball on her left ovary. He told her that her left ovary had to come out even though the recommendations were to wait 6-8 weeks to see if the cyst would resolve because it was a hemorrhagic functional cyst.
During surgery he cut her ureter in two. Does no testing to determine if he injured her ureter and sends her home despite severe pain. Pathology comes back the next day and tells the doctor there was part of her ureter in the path sample. Dr. Calls our client tells her to get to Christ hospital asap.
Her urine pooled in her abdominal cavity for so long, so she developed an infection causing a delay in repair of her ureter. Has a nephrostomy bag for a month. Develops sepsis and overwhelming scar tissue. A urologist has to perform a psoas hitch where her bladder is brought up, tied to her back and then her ureter is sutured into the bladder.
Inflammation from the urine causes such severe scar tissue that she develops horrible bladder spasms that caused her to wet herself and even has bowel incontinence for some time. She had stimulator placed permanently in her back to help with the spasms but was still dealing with bad incontinence and pain. Stim placement caused scarring on her back and buttocks. Has to be replaced every 7 years.
The jury came back with $6m and found that the client had a permanent and substantial physical deformity. The jury awarded $4,000,000 for past and future pain and suffering, $1,500,000 for her future medical needs and $500,000 for past medical expenses.