Landmark Case for Zwiebel & Fairbanks

This case settled for $950,000. Plaintiff, currently age 73, suffered from bladder cancer. During the initial workup to surgically replace his bladder, an aortic aneurysm was found. A repair of the abdominal aneurysm was performed with a graft from his leg. After he recovered from that surgery, he was readmitted to the hospital on 11/11/97 for the bladder removal and insertion of a prosthetic bladder.

The surgery took approximately 11 hours and plaintiff was transferred to the post-anesthesia intensive care unit in seemingly good shape. Three hours later, he was transferred to the surgical intensive care unit where his right lower extremity was noted to be cold, colorless, and without several pulses. It was then discovered that he had suffered a thrombosis in the right femoral artery in his leg.

The protocol for urological surgery did not mandate the periodic recording of the vascular integrity of the legs. However, plaintiff contended that because he had recently undergone major surgery for the aortic aneurysm, he was at increased risk of a vascular accident in his legs. Plaintiff's expert claimed that this increased risk mandated that be be monitored as if he had undergone vascular surgery as opposed to urological surgery. Such monitoring would have mandated an examination every 15-30 minutes of the vascular integrity of the legs. The expert further opined that the thrombosis discovered at 11pm had started more than 3 hours before the discovery and that proper monitoring would have revealed the thrombosis hours earlier and probably would have saved the leg.

As as a result of the thrombosis, plaintiff underwent an emergency thrombectomy to remove the thrombosis and fasciotomies to try and save the leg. The leg became seriously infected and plaintiff suffered from overwhelming sepsis which defendant Hospital could not control. On 11/22/97, plaintiff underwent an above-the-knee amputation. He was later fitted with a prosthetic leg.

Pltf. Expert: Plaintiff would have called Dr. James Bannister, vascular surgeon, Camden, New Jersey.