DEFENSE VERDICT – Joe Strang

Joe Strang received a defense verdict before Judge Nolan in the Supreme Court, Suffolk County, on April 16, 2025, after a 5-day medical malpractice trial. The defendant was a very active pain management specialist who performed a radiofrequency ablation of the periauricular nerve of a 22-year-old female patient in an attempt to arrest her chronic and disabling migraine headaches. The plaintiff’s core contention in the case was that the defendant operated on the wrong nerve and should instead have done an ablation of the occipital nerve. The end result was a traumatic neuropathy which allegedly made the patient’s condition worse, not better. The plaintiff called a well-qualified expert in pain management to support the allegations of malpractice and causally-related damages. Through a painstaking presentation of the subsequent treatment records, the defense established that there was no discernible difference in the plaintiff’s condition before or after the procedure at issue. Moreover, through an explanation of the relevant anatomy and the technology of radiofrequency ablation, it was demonstrated that the periauricular approach was a reasonable treatment option under the circumstances. In summation, the plaintiff’s lawyer sought $1.2M in general damages and another $500,000 in special damages. The jury deliberations spread over 2 days before a defense verdict was returned.