Joan Levin and Thomas Lamb secure Defense Verdict

Joan and Tom were victorious in a medical malpractice trial in Westchester County where the plaintiff alleged that the defendant doctors failed to diagnose a lower leg deep vein thrombosis (“DVT”). In this case, the plaintiff had a history of psoriatic arthritis, osteoarthritis and morbid obesity, and there had been a recent negative Doppler study. Therefore, the defendant doctors attributed plaintiff’s symptoms to a flare up of the psoriatic arthritis. Her orthopedist recommended a total knee replacement, and she had cardiovascular medical clearance for surgery. Two weeks thereafter, plaintiff’s leg took an acute turn and became swollen from the hip to the ankle; she was diagnosed with extensive clotting. An allergic reaction to heparin caused even more clotting, necessitating interventional “clot busting”. After discharge, plaintiff was hospitalized with a pulmonary embolus.

Plaintiff alleged that the symptoms were progressive and warranted a follow up Doppler sonogram which plaintiff alleged would have revealed the DVT when it was smaller and responsive to oral anticoagulants. The defense countered by asserting that, while a DVT can mimic signs or symptoms of an activated psoriatic arthritis, plaintiff’s clot did not develop until two weeks after defendants’ evaluations, likely provoked by plaintiff’s greater immobility secondary to her arthritic pain. Also, whenever it was diagnosed, the initial treatment would’ve been IV heparin followed by oral anticoagulants, thus the same adverse reaction would have occurred.

A verdict was returned in favor of VLMMR’s clients, the defendant doctors.