FBMJ’s Anthony Pignotti & Randall Juip Obtain No Cause Verdict in Washtenaw County Medical Malpractice Case
Foley, Baron, Metzger & Juip Members, Anthony Pignotti and Randall Juip, were successful in obtaining a recent defense verdict of no cause of action in favor of their clients in a recent medical malpractice / wrongful death trial. The Decedent was survived by five sons, four of whom are physicians and one of whom is a lawyer. The sons were pursuing the lawsuit on behalf of their deceased mother and her Estate.
The case involved a claim made against a cardiothoracic surgeon and one of Michigan’s largest health care systems alleging malpractice in the performance of a transcatheter edge-to-edge repair of the mitral valve. The patient, a Canadian citizen and resident, had underlying idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and mitral regurgitation, which was caused her to develop acute respiratory distress and cardiac failure. The sons identified and contacted the cardiothoracic surgeon Defendant and pleaded with him to accept the across-the-border transfer of their mother and to perform the mitral valve procedure in order to save their mother’s life. The cardiothoracic surgeon agreed to assist the patient and her family, and successfully performed the mitral valve repair along with the other members of the structural heart team (who were not sued in the lawsuit).
The patient’s Estate claimed that the MitraClip devices that were placed to treat the life-threatening mitral regurgitation resulted in new mitral stenosis, which the Estate claimed was a cause of the patient’s death. During the course of the trial, the Plaintiff attempted to introduce evidence in an effort to add a new claim that had not previously been pled in the Complaint pertaining to informed consent. After vigorous opposition by Pignotti and Juip, and careful consideration by the Court, the Court ultimately ruled in favor of the Defendants and precluded Plaintiff from admitting the testimony, thereby preventing Plaintiff from being allowed to amend his Complaint to conform to the proofs. The only claim that was ultimately presented to the jury to decide pertained to the performance of the MitraClip procedure and whether it was a cause of the patient’s death.
After a week-long trial in the Washtenaw County Circuit Court, the 8-person jury returned a unanimous verdict of no cause of action in favor of the Defendants. The jury found that the cardiothoracic surgeon complied with the applicable standard of care in the manner in which he performed the procedure.
As part of their pre-suit investigation, and during the course of the case, Pignotti and Juip aggressively sought out world-class experts to evaluate the at-issue care, both to inform them about the medicine and to eventually educate the jury regarding the underlying medical care and decision making by the Defendant surgeon and the other members of the structural heart team. In discussing the case with the jury after the successful verdict, the jury confirmed that the thorough work-up, attention to detail, and caliber of expert support that Pignotti and Juip had brought to their attention was a critically important part of their deliberations – and that the care they took to present such strong expert testimony and to educate the jury was dispositive for them.
For more information about the case, or FBMJ’s medical malpractice litigation practice, please contact Anthony Pignotti or Randall Juip at (734) 742-1800 or via email at apignotti@fbmjlaw.com or rajuip@fbmjlaw.com.