Jury Awards No Damages To Man Who Lost Testicle

<snip>

A Rock County jury awarded nothing Wednesday to a Janesville man who lost a testicle after a 1999 hernia surgery.

The jury of six women and six men voted 11-1 to find that Dr. Steven L. Falk was not negligent in the 1999 surgery.

A week after Frank F. Gerke's surgery at Mercy Hospital, Janesville, his right testicle swelled to three or four times its normal size and was extremely painful, according to the lawsuit.

Six months later, he had the testicle removed, which relieved the pain.

Gerke, 67, Janesville, filed suit in 2002 against Falk and against Mercy Hospital. The hospital was dismissed from the lawsuit in April 2003.

A Boston doctor who testified for Gerke said Falk likely damaged an artery during the hernia surgery, cutting blood flow to the testicle.

Gerke's attorney, Russell Devitt, told the jury that losing a testicle has no effect on Gerke's fertility but said it's psychologically damaging.

"It is a shocking event for a man," Devitt said.

Doctors who testified for Falk disagreed that the artery was damaged during the surgery, saying that the problem was from unexplained congestion in the vein, which restricted blood flow to the testicle.

http://gazetteextra.com/gerke101305.asp

Get over it!

Doctors have made worse mistakes. Believe me I know!

He should now sue his attorney for malpractice..he should have been able to prove negligence...unexplained congestion my ass...the doc either failed to get appropriate tests preoperatively or failed to diagnose the condition on time to save his testicle.

Any med mal case that goes to a jury trial is there because it was not even a close call that this doctor did nothing wrong. I've been doing this for many years and malpractice carriers will not take a chance at a verdict unless they have extremely strong support for non-liability. Prior to trial, the defense lawyer will tell the carrier a percent chance of a defense verdict. I have never heard of a carrier not trying to settle a case that was opined at less than 70% for a defense verdict. Anything close, attempts are made to settle.

On the medicine, on what are you basing your comment "unexplained congestion my ass...the doc either failed to get appropriate tests preoperatively or failed to diagnose the condition on time to save his testicle"?

Postoperatively, patients develope blockages all the time that are not preventable. Most of the time these bloackages can be treated with medication and if necesarry further surgery, but sometimes they can not. My father died several years ago after heart surgery. Now I do this for a living, so I had four different heart surgeons who work for me all the time reviewing records, review the medical records for me to see if there was any potential malpractice in my father's case. Each doc looked for even a hint of malpractice and could find none. Sometimes people suffer unexpected outcomes from medical procedures that are due to no one's negligence.

In this case, I don't know the specific facts. I do know that the case would not have gone to trial unless the defense for the physician was seen prior to the trial as very strong. You will find that by far (over 90% in most jurisdictions) most malpractice cases that go to trial result in a defense verdict. That is not because it is so hard to get a malpractice verdict against a doctor, it is because malpractice carriers are afraid to go to trial in close cases. If they don't settle and a jury find against their insured doctor for an amount in excess of the policy limits, they can be in what is called "bad faith" and may sometimes be sued for millions by everyone involved in the case. So, if this was a bad case for the doctor, it never would have gone to trial.

... but he didn't have the balls to do it.
















What? SOMEONE was gonna say it. Why not me?

he's a one-ball man?

If it were the docs fault then sure the man should be awarded. But docs are humans. They do make mistakes. It is unfortunate, but reality. If it wasn't due to his negligence, then :shrug: I guess justice was served.