DEFENSE VERDICT – Geoffrey H. Pforr

Geoffrey H. Pforr obtained a defense verdict in a medical malpractice case in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Suffolk, on June 20, 2023.  Plaintiff alleged our client negligently performed a robotic assisted laparoscopic repair of a left inguinal hernia, causing a small bowel obstruction requiring surgical repair three days after the hernia repair.  The claim centered on plaintiff’s expert’s opinion that the V-lock suture, a self-affixing suture, utilized by the defendant deviated from accepted standards of care by virtue of the failure to bury the end of the V-lock suture, allowing a loose end to snag the small bowel and cause the obstruction.  Further, the expert opined that had the subsequent surgeon removed the suture from the middle rather than the end, the entire suture would have unraveled and opened the suture tissue. During the defense Geoff successfully established, through our client and our expert, that early small bowel obstruction is a known complication of the surgery as a raw operative site can adhere to the bowel and cause an obstruction.  It was also established, both through the testimony of our client and expert, that a V-lock suture wouldn’t unravel if cut in the middle given that it is self-affixing throughout its length.  More importantly, Geoff arranged, via a demonstration from our client, to show the jury how the claims of plaintiff’s expert could not occur.  The jury returned its verdict after approximately 30 minutes of deliberations!