Richard Murphy Wins Verdict For General Surgeon
February 1, 2007
A 56-year-old patient was brought to an emergency room bleeding from the floor of his mouth. The hospital had no ENT surgeon on call or on staff. After finding that she could not control the bleeding, the co-defendant emergency room physician attempted to have the patient transferred to another hospital for treatment by a head and neck surgeon. The ER physician also called Mr. Murphy's client, a general surgeon on call to the emergency room that day. The general surgeon did not come in when first called. He had never operated intraorally, although he had some head and neck surgical privileges. Plaintiff suggested that ligation of the external carotid artery would have stopped bleeding from the lingual artery. An hour later, the bleeding became more profuse and the patient became unresponsive. Although the general surgeon came to Loretto upon being recalled, he was unable to arrive until the patient was being pronounced. A directed verdict was granted in favor of the general surgeon at the close of plaintiff’s case for the reason that no duty existed because no physician-patient relationship had been established, the general surgeon not having seen the patient and not having made any orders.
