Attorney obtained a defense verdict in a medical professional negligence action

Attorney obtained a defense verdict in a medical professional negligence action.The case involved allegations that the defendant emergency medicine physician failed to timely diagnose appendicitis in the emergency department of a local hospital resulting in a ruptured appendix and the need for extensive and complicated open surgery to remove the appendix, instead of minimally invasive surgery. Plaintiffs argued that the emergency medicine physician breached the standard of care. The jury believed, however, that consistent with the unique standard of care applicable to an emergency medicine physician, i.e., to weigh likelihoods of emergent conditions and determine whether immediate treatment or follow-up on an out-patient basis is indicated, the emergency medicine physician acted appropriately based on his assessment of the patient's presenting signs and symptoms, which were suggestive of gastroenteritis and not appendicitis. Comparative negligence was at issue because the patient failed to follow the emergency medicine physician's medical instructions to return to the emergency department if his signs and symptoms worsened or changed in subsequent days.