Weber Gallagher Simpson Stapleton Fires & Newby LLP

May 09, 2005 : Paula A. Koczan Obtains Defense Verdicts in Medical Professional Liability Cases

Paula A. Koczan, a partner in the Pittsburgh office of Weber Gallagher Simpson Stapleton Fires & Newby LLP, obtained defense verdicts in five recent medical professional liability trials in southwestern Pennsylvania. 

In the most recent trial in Allegheny County in March 2005, the plaintiff alleged that a physician was negligent in interpreting obstetrical ultrasounds by failing to diagnose the presence of a congenital diaphragmatic hernia.  The plaintiff contended that had the diaphragmatic hernia been diagnosed, the minor plaintiff would have been born in a tertiary care facility, thereby preventing his anoxic brain injury. 

In a case tried in Crawford County in February 2005, a plaintiff alleged that a physician conducted excessive and unnecessary surgery when he performed a right axillary lymphadenectomy, removing 13 diseased lymph nodes.  It was later determined that all of the lymph nodes were benign.  Following surgery, plaintiff developed lymphadenopathy, as well as reflex sympathetic dystrophy of her extremity.

Ms. Koczan also successfully defended a doctor in federal court who allegedly failed to properly perform a hip revision surgery resulting in perforation of the femoral cortex and a protrusion of the prosthesis through the femur.  That case was tried in January of 2005.

In another matter tried in Allegheny County in December 2004, a plaintiff alleged that Ms. Koczan’s client failed to properly recognize excessive bleeding during the performance of a sigmoid colectomy for diverticulitis resulting in a postoperative bleed, leading to the need for a second surgical procedure with prolonged hospital treatment.  Following the hospital course, plaintiff developed an osteomyelitis of his spine, resulting in six months of IV antibiotics followed by continued pain in his back. 

Another of Ms. Koczan’s clients allegedly failed to conduct pre-catheterization assessment, properly perform a catheterization, and admit the patient following catheterization, resulting in the development of a pseudo-aneurysm in the groin and eventual death of a patient.  Ms. Koczan obtained a defense verdict in Allegheny County on behalf of the doctor in November 2004.