$7.5 Million Settlement for Medical Malpractice/Brain Injury Case

Attorneys Daniel S. Weinstock, Carolyn M. Chopko, and G. Scott Vezina secured a $7.5 million settlement in a case involving a neurosurgical misadventure causing permanent brain damage to a 51-year-old New Jersey man.

The plaintiff had been diagnosed with a small pituitary tumor and was scheduled to have it surgically removed at a Philadelphia hospital. Following the surgery, the plaintiff suffered massive bleeding in the brain and the pathology samples from the operation showed brain matter had inadvertently been removed. Attorneys Weinstock and Chopko argued the only way brain matter could possibly have ended up in the surgical pathology sample is if the neurosurgeon inadvertently placed his surgical tools deeper than he intended to, or “instrumented” the mid-brain. In order to persuade the jury as to the merits of their case, Weinstock and Chopko prepared a three dimensional animation and various other trial exhibits that were intended to simplify complicated scientific and anatomical principles to the jury.

About one-half of the settlement funds are being placed into a structured settlement, with the other half being placed in dividend-producing investments. The recovery is projected to take care of the plaintiff and his wife for the rest of their lives. At the insistence of the defendants, the names of the parties have been kept confidential.