Michael L. Storey and Callie A. Kanthack Secure Defense Verdict for Omaha Physician and Employer

Partner Michael L. Storey and attorney Callie A. Kanthack secured a defense verdict in Douglas County District Court for an Omaha physician and his employer after a 4-day medical malpractice jury trial.  It was undisputed that the physician’s needle punctured the plaintiff’s spinal cord during a cervical epidural steroid injection.  This caused a permanent injury.  At trial, plaintiff alleged that the physician failed to properly angle the fluoroscopy (intermittent x-ray used during the procedure) and, as a result, the physician advanced the needle beyond the epidural space and directly into the spinal cord.  Mr. Storey and Ms. Kanthack, relying on medical imaging, medical records, and medical professionals at trial to disprove plaintiff’s theory.  They succeeded by showing the twelve members of the jury that the fluoroscopy did provide the anatomical landmarks necessary to determine needle depth, that the needle was not in the spinal cord at the time alleged by Plaintiff’s expert, and that, to the contrary, the puncture was caused by inadvertent and untimely patient movement earlier in the procedure.  The jury agreed after less than two hours of deliberation and found that the physician was not at fault.