TRIAL ADVOCATE
Peter Pryor, Kevin Ahearn

COURT
Denver District Court

CASE TYPE
Medical Malpractice

CLIENT
Vascular Surgeon

ISSUES - In this wrongful death case, a 51 year old male underwent thoracic outlet syndrome surgery for relief of chronic pain in the left upper extremity. The patient died on the operating table during an attempt to drain an infected lymph collection in the neck and an infected pleural effusion.

The patient suffered a massive hemorrhage due to unexpected movement of the subclavian artery and subclavian vein from their positions in the first operation. Despite appropriate resuscitative efforts, the patient suffered anoxic brain injury and was eventually taken off of life support.

The two grown sons of the deceased claimed approximately 4 million dollars in lost business opportunities due to the death of their father. Mr. Pryor and Mr. Ahearn established that the surgeon's misidentification of the artery and vein, while an admitted mistake, was not substandard. After eight days of evidence, the jury returned a verdict for the surgeon after 20 minutes of deliberation.