Medical Malpractice Verdict Against Well-Known Surgeon
A medical malpractice jury in Broward County awarded more than $2 million to a woman who had been a ballerina for 15 years and had a bright future ahead of her. Unfortunately, this teenager Katie Shreffler began to suffer pain in her hip, and underwent surgery. Ten years later, this South Florida woman is still in pain, walks with a crutch and has needed more surgery to correct the damage from the original procedure, according to court records.
Interestingly, the surgeon has become a prominent and well-respected physician. Dr. Marc Philippon, according to his clinic's website, is ''one of the world's leading orthopaedic hip surgeons'' and a consultant to all the major U.S. professional sports leagues. He has treated pro golfers Greg Norman and Peter Jacobsen, hockey player Mario Lemieux, pro football player Priest Holmes, and baseball player Louis Castillo, according to that site.
So how did this medical malpractice occur? In medical malpractice surgical cases, the most effective claim is that the surgery which went awry, was unnecessary-that the standard of care was violated when the surgeon decided to perform the operation. In so doing, the usual defense to a surgical claim of medical malpractice-that the bad result was an unfortunate, unavoidable complication, can not be used. Obviously, if the surgery was unnecessary, then the doctor should never have subjected the patient to the risk of these complications.
That is how this claim was presented. The plaintiff’s attorneys argued that Dr. Philippon performed an unnecessary surgery. They said Shreffler was among the first patients Philippon ever performed the procedure on, and he used the teen for practice. Certainly, this presents a persuasive and compelling argument and undermines the typical defense tactics.
