Firm Successful in Obtaining Summary Judgment in Favor of Defendant

The firm has been successful in obtaining summary judgment on behalf of a hospital. In the medical malpractice case, plaintiff alleged that he suffered personal injuries as a result of a needle fragment that broke off during the course of a surgical procedure. While plaintiff attempted to argue that a retained foreign body following a medical procedure does not occur absent negligence, Andrea Demers argued and presented an expert affidavit in the motion for summary judgment that in fact, a retained foreign body can and does occur in the absence of negligence. Specifically, in this case, the medical personnel involved in the procedure were aware that the needle had fractured and made reasonable efforts to located the needle fragment prior to the conclusion of the surgery. Additionally, Ms. Demers, through expert proof, demonstrated that plaintiff had failed to establish that the retained needle fragment was a proximate cause of his injuries. According to the Court, the plaintiff was unable to refute the proximate causation argument, even with the proffer of his own expert’s affidavit. As a result, the Court ruled that even if a question of fact had been raised as to whether the failure to located the retained foreign body constituted negligence, there was no question of fact as to the proximate causation, and as a result granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants. The awarding of summary judgment in favor of defendants in a retained foreign body case is rare, and the firm was pleased to obtain that result on behalf of their client.