- A 12-year-old boy, sent home from the emergency room, died twenty-four hours after his release. The emergency room physician on duty was advised of the boy's lab results by the E.R. nurse. She provided the results of the wrong patient. This was discovered after the child's death FCJ obtained a verdict for the hospital based upon a causation defense.
- A child with respiratory symptoms was discharged from the E.R. only to return within hours still in distress. ICU admission, intubation, and transfer ensued, but the child sustained hypoxic brain injury. At the trial, there were two versions of the first emergency room chart; one indicating good vital signs and the other with none. In the suit, the family claimed that the infant was in severe respiratory distress and should have been hospitalized on the first visit. The emergency room physician stood accused of negligence and altering the chart. FCJ obtained a defense verdict for the physician.
- A 50-year-old female patient presented to the E.R. with bilateral armpit pain. Her EKG showed acute changes. It was late and the emergency room physician missed the changes. The patient was sent home. The patient died from an MI two weeks later. Autopsy revealed an old MI consistent with the timing of the E.R. visit. No medical expert could be found to support not hospitalizing the patient at the time of her E.R. visit. FCJ presented a defense explaining that a mistake can occur even in the exercise of reasonable care. The verdict was in favor of the physician.
- In a case alleging a delivering O.B. should have performed an emergency section, the internal fetal monitor strip revealed no beat-to-beat variability. There was thick meconium. Attempts at a scalp pH were unsuccessful. For more than an hour, the physician pondered whether to section. Vaginal birth interceded. A severely brain damaged infant was born. At trial, the mother, who was an R.N. with professional delivery experience, claimed she begged for the physician to do a section. The verdict was for the physician.
- A baby boy, hospitalized for dehydration, developed compartment syndrome as a result of an IV infiltration. The child's foot was severely injured, requiring fasciotomies and plastic surgery. The plaintiffs asserted claims of negligence and abandonment against the pediatrician. The verdict was for the defendant physician.
- In a case alleging sexual harassment and hostile work environment against a hospital, an O.R. nurse complaining of the temperature in the O.R., allegedly asked a male physician to "feel" how hot she was. He did. The situation escalated over the days and weeks that ensued with claims by the nurse that the physician involved acted sexually inappropriately toward nursing personnel and patients, allegedly "leering" at the genitals of patients. It was alleged that the hospital was aware of this behavior, condoned it; and additionally did not discourage fellow employees of the complaining nurse from teasing and harassing her about the sexual-encounter with the offending physician. FCJ received a verdict for the defendant hospital.