Roanoke Partners John T. Jessee and Patrick R. Kelly obtained a defense verdict following a four-day jury trial arising out of a post-surgical spinal infection that resulted in discitis and osteomyelitis requiring surgical debridement and an instrumented spinal fusion.
In this matter, the plaintiff — an elderly patient — was admitted for inpatient care one week after a third spinal surgery. He was complaining of delirium, unremitting back pain, and other signs of sepsis. The plaintiff subsequently sued the orthopedic surgeon who had followed the patient after the surgeries. The plaintiff conceded that the infection itself was not the product of neglect, and alleged instead that the surgeon negligently failed to timely diagnose the infectious process during its early stages.
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