Tried. And True.
520 Indiana Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46202
317.262.1000 (p)
317.262.9000 (f)
NEWS
Schultz & Pogue, LLP partners Peter H. Pogue and David G. Field recently teamed to obtain a defense verdict in a week long jury trial for an osteopathic family practice physician in an alleged failure to diagnose an abdominal aortic aneurysm medical malpractice trial in Martinsville, Indiana.
The decedent, a 67 year old male, with a chronic history of back problems presented to his osteopathic family physician complaining of recently exacerbated back and requesting osteopathic manipulations for treatment of the back pain. During the second visit the patient complained of some nausea and abdominal pain along with his back pain. After completing an examination that revealed no palpable abdominal masses or other abdominal symptoms the osteopathic physician performed osteopathic manipulation on the patient to relieve the back pain, and the patient left the physician’s office.
Ten hours after leaving the physician’s office the patient was found unresponsive at home and was pronounced deceased. An autopsy revealed a ruptured fusiform abdominal aortic aneurysm. The patient’s estate claimed that the osteopathic physician should have performed additional examinations and referred the patient for advanced imaging due to the symptoms and patient risk factors. The physician asserted his examination was appropriate, specifically having looked for palpable abdominal masses and detecting none, and that the treatment was appropriate. Three experts were presented on behalf of the osteopathic physician, a family practice physician, an osteopathic physician and member of the Medical Review Panel, and the forensic pathologist performing the autopsy.
The jury deliberated just over one hour before returning a verdict in favor of the osteopathic physician.
Congratulations to Tom Schultz on being elected President of the Indiana Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. ABOTA is a national association of experienced lawyers and judges dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the civil jury trial right provided by the Seventh Amendment to the US Constitution. ABOTA is an invitation only organization that requires a certain number of jury trials in order to be considered. Tom recently reached the rank of Advocate having tried over 50 jury trials.
Congratulations to Tom Schultz on being named Defense Lawyer of The Year by The Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana. DTCI is the largest association of lawyers in Indiana who defend clients in civil litigation. Tom is the former President of DTCI and currently serves as the Indiana Representative for The Defense Research Institute (DRI) which is the national organization committed to defending individuals and businesses in civil litigation.
Jon M. Pinnick gave a presentation to Indiana plaintiff and defense attorneys for the National Business Institute on Continuing Legal Education on August 31, 2011 on Medical Malpractice Guide to Misdiagnosis cases.
Peter H. Pogue, a principal with Schultz & Pogue, LLP, Indianapolis, Indiana, recently obtained a defense verdict in a jury trial on April 21, 2011, in a medical malpractice action tried in Marion Superior Court in Indianapolis. The plaintiff, a 64 year old General Motors employee, was referred to the defendant anesthesiologist by her orthopedic surgeon for an epidural steroid injection for chronic low back pain. The defendant anesthesiologist performed the epidural steroid injection using an interlaminar approach with a loss of resistance technique. It was not disputed that the injection of local anesthesia and steroid medication was inadvertently injected “intrathecally” or outside the epidural space resulting in temporary neuromuscular blockade and of the plaintiff’s lower extremities and a dural puncture headache. The anesthesiologist performed an epidural blood patch, and four hours later the neuromuscular blockade wore off and plaintiff was discharged. Two days following the injection the plaintiff went back to work and worked her regular shift for two weeks before complaining to her family physician of weakness in her lower extremities. One month after the injection the plaintiff woke up and could not move her lower extremities. She was diagnosed by her neurosurgeon as having a spinal cord infarct which resulted in permanent paraplegia from T8 downward.
At trial, the plaintiff contended that the defendant anesthesiologist breached the standard of care by not using fluoroscopy to perform the epidural steroid injection and alleged that the paraplegia was a result of the epidural steroid injection due to ascending arachnoiditis which caused the spinal cord infarct. The defendant anesthesiologist contended that the loss of resistance technique, as opposed to fluoroscopy, was a perfectly acceptable manner in which to perform the epidural steroid injection, and that the spinal cord infarct was due to vasculitis caused by underlying myelitis or systemic rheumatoid arthritis.
After one week of testimony the jury deliberated 2½ hours before returning a defense verdict in favor of the defendant anesthesiologist.
Congratulations to David Field and Tom Schultz for their recent successful defense of a northwest Indiana orthopaedic spine surgeon in an alleged medical malpractice case. Plaintiff claimed that the spine surgeon negligently performed an L5-S1 spine fusion surgery and caused permanent nerve injury known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy. The case was tried over five (5) days to a Lake County jury before a defense verdict was entered in favor of the surgeon.
Congratulations to Tom Schultz and Peter Pogue for being selected for inclusion on the 2011 Indiana Super Lawyers List. It is the fifth consecutive year that they have been selected by their peers. Only five percent of Indiana attorneys are chosen each year.
Flores v. Siddiqui, M.D. Lake Superior Court. Defended Lake County Internal Medicine Physician in alleged medical malpractice case. Plaintiffs claimed that Dr. Siddiqui negligently performed an IME and caused permanent injury and damage to patient's cervical spine. Case tried to Lake County Jury. Directed Verdict in favor of Dr. Siddiqui and his corporation at the close of plaintiffs' case in chief.
Taylor v. Snell, M.D. Marion Superior Court. Defended Indianapolis Neurosurgeon in alleged medical malpractice case. Plaintiffs claimed that Dr. Snell failed to timely diagnose a recurrent frontal skull base mengioma that purportedly caused patient's blindness. Cased tried over six (6) days to a Marion County Jury. Plaintiffs called two (2) Neurosurgeons from IU to testify against Dr. Snell and his former corporation. Defense Verdict in favor of Dr. Snell and his Corporation.
Tom Schultz recently successfully represented Indiana Swimming in a matter against a local swim club and coach for falsifying meet results in 3 separate swim meets. Tom worked with not only representatives of Indiana Swimming but also USA Swimming and the United States Olympic Committee in obtaining one of the harshest penalties ever levied against a coach: a five year ban from Indiana Swimming and a two year ban from USA Swimming. The settlement of the case also resulted in the coach admitting to the wrong doing as well as financial penalties levied against both the coach and Swim Club.
Indiana’s highest court ruled in Indiana Patient’s Compensation Fund v. Gary Patrick that the father of an adult patient could not assert a claim for his own emotional distress related to the malpractice claim that he brought on behalf of his son’s estate. Peter Pogue and Katherine Karres of Schultz & Pogue, LLP submitted a brief in support of this position on behalf of the Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana.
In the case, Father filed a claim against the treating doctor and hospital for a failure to diagnose his son’s ruptured colon after his son was treated and released from the hospital. The son died at their home later that day in front of the father. Father settled the claim with the healthcare providers and sought additional monies from the Indiana Patient’s Compensation Fund. Father sought not only a claim for medical malpractice on behalf of the son, but he also made an independent claim for his emotional distress. The trial court awarded the Father $600,000 for his emotional distress, and the Fund appealed. The Indiana Supreme Court reversed because the father’s claim was based on the Indiana Adult Wrongful Death Statute, which does not allow emotional distress damages for a parent-plaintiff, and was pursued pursuant to the requirements of the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act, which does not create a new causes of action. Essentially, plaintiff sought two recoveries for one claim of negligence, one for himself and one on behalf of his deceased son, and the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that plaintiff could not recover for his individual claims because they were not allowed by the applicable statutes.
Peter Pogue and Katherine Karres co-authored an Amicus Brief for the Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana on behalf of Clarian in Clarian Health v. Wagler. On March 31, 2010, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court and ruled in favor of Clarian that a medical review panel opinion in which two panelists could not determine causation and one panel member found no causation was insufficient to find causation on behalf of Clarian in plaintiff’s malpractice claim. Furthermore, the Court ruled that nurses are not qualified to determine of the medical cause of injuries and thus Wagler could not defeat Clarian’s Motion for Summary Judgment with an affidavit of a nurse.
Congratulations to Kori McOmber in being selected as the 2010 Insurance Coverage Chair for the Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana.
The Defense Wins! Congratulations to David Field in a recent Medical Malpractice defense verdict in a jury trial in Hamilton County, Indiana. David defended a Family Practice Physician in a case involving treatment of a compression fracture to a patient’s T-12 vertebrae. Despite a 3-0 loss at the Medical Review Panel and adverse testimony from each of the Panel members at trial, David was able to obtain a defense verdict after a three day trial.
Congratulations to Tom Schultz and Peter Pogue for being selected for inclusion on the 2010 Indiana Super Lawyers list. It is the fourth consecutive year that they have been selected by their peers. Only five percent of Indiana attorneys are chosen each year.
Also, congratulations to Kirk LeBlanc and Kori McOmber for also being recognized for the second consecutive year as “Rising Stars” which is a recognition of SuperLawyers under the age of 40.
We are pleased to announce that J. Kirk LeBlanc has joined the partnership at Schultz & Pogue, LLP. Kirk has enjoyed a successful law career here in Indiana for the past eight years, concentrating in the areas of Food Bourne Illness, Trucking, Construction, Commercial, Auto and Premises Liability as well as other areas of Civil Litigation. Kirk has successfully represented clients in 90 of the 92 counties in Indiana as well as in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Florida. Kirk was selected for inclusion on the 2010 Indiana Super Lawyers Rising Stars List, which recognizes the top lawyers in Indiana under the age of 40. This was the second year in a row that Kirk was selected a Rising Star. We are excited that Kirk chose to join our firm and look forward to many successful years working with him.
Tom Schultz recently had his 3rd successful jury trial of the year. In the case of Lausten v Knight, defendant admitted liability and the jury returned a verdict for less than ½ what was offered.
Tom Schultz has been elected as State Representative for Indiana for The Defense Research Institute(DRI). DRI is the largest organization of defense lawyers who practice civil litigation in the United States. Tom is also currently serving as President of the Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana which is the largest organization of defense lawyers in the state.
Tom Schultz recently spoke at the DRI Annual Meeting in Chicago on the topic of “Internet Marketing in the 21St Century.”
