John F. O’Brien, III procured a defense verdict in favor of an orthopedic surgeon in Philadelphia County. The plaintiffs, a husband and wife, alleged that the orthopaedic surgeon and a local hospital breached proper standards of medical care while treating the husband for a severe right supracondylar humeral fracture he sustained in a moped accident. The plaintiffs specifically asserted that the orthopaedic surgeon was negligent in failing to resect the patient’s intramuscular septum while performing an open reduction and internal fixation of the fracture using olecranon osteotomy and ulnar nerve transposition. The plaintiffs also claimed that the orthopaedic surgeon was ultimately responsible for the alleged negligence of hospital nurses and residents for their failure to timely remove the patient’s splint and bandages when he experienced post-operative swelling. The plaintiffs claimed that the defendants’ alleged negligence caused the husband to suffer a severe and permanent injury to his right ulnar nerve.
However, while the defense acknowledged that the patient had suffered a permanent injury to his right ulnar nerve, they contended that this injury was a recognized complication of the operation he underwent and was not caused by the orthopaedic surgeon or any hospital personnel. The defense also produced multiple medical experts who testified that the orthopaedic surgeon properly resected the patient’s intramuscular septum while surgically repairing his broken arm. After deliberating for less than thirty minutes, the jury returned a verdict in the defendants’ favor.