Facts

On or around February 5, 2021, Roe Physician negligently performed bilateral endoscopic sinus surgery, reconstruction of the right skull base and reconstruction of left sided defect on Doe Plaintiff at an outpatient surgery center. Plaintiff was discharged later that same day. A few hours after discharge, Doe Plaintiff's wife came home to find Plaintiff on the floor with blood coming out of his nose and covering the floor around him. He was emergently transported via ambulance to a nearby hospital where he was discovered to have significant bleeding in her brain and acute fracture of the cribriform plate. Plaintiff underwent an emergency craniotomy for evacuation of the intracerebral and subdural hematomas, as well as repair of the skull base defect. Plaintiff was discharged to a skilled nursing facility; however, he required multiple surgeries following this incident. Plaintiff suffered long term cognitive deficits as a result of the initial surgery.

Plaintiff's wife brought a claim for loss of consortium.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiffs contented Roe Physician negligently performed the sinus surgery by entering the intracranial space which was incorrectly described in the operative report as exposure of the skull base. Roe Physician then improperly attempted to repair the defect despite have caused intracranial injury which requires hospitalization and neurosurgical consultation. Doe Plaintiff was then negligently discharged following the surgery. As a result of the negligent discharge, Doe Plaintiff was found unresponsive in his home by his wife on the floor with blood coming out of his nose and around his wife. Plaintiff was transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital in a critical medical condition and required an emergency brain surgery. As a result of the damage to his brain, Plaintiff suffered irreparable injuries and required ongoing admission to a skilled nursing facility.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendant contented Roe Physician complied with the standard of care and used reasonable and appropriate operative technique during the surgery and that Doe Plaintiff's injury is a known complication of the procedure. Defendant contended that the defect to the skull base was present pre-operatively and was caused from Plaintiff's prior sinus surgery when Defendant removed scar tissue the area near dura was weakened and the force from resuscitation attempts caused the injury to Plaintiff's brain. Defendants contended that the bleeding observed at the hospital post operatively could not have been caused by the surgery as there are no arteries in the vicinity of the skill base to explain the amount of hemorrhage seen on imaging. Furthermore, if Defendant had injured an artery intraoperatively, the bleeding would have been significant and observed at the time of surgery. There also would have been an immediate and substantial change in Plaintiff's neurological status.

Result

The case settled for $1 million.