Warshafsky Law Firm settles Medical Malpractice Case for 2.9 Million
Warshafsky Law Firm recently settled the case of Ken Plants v. Dr. Cully White, et al for $2.9 million dollars. Dr. Cully White is a nuerosurgeon at Midwest Nuerosurgical Associates at St. Luke's Hopital. Mr. Plants is a carpenter who injured his back at work in July 2003 and Dr. Cully White for right-sided pain in his lower back. Dr. White found a small bulging disc on the right side and recommended a surgical discectomy at L5-S1, in the lower back region. On 2/26/04, Dr. White operated on the left side, removing bone and tissue on the left, never touching the right. Mr. Plants awoke with a severe injury to his left sciatic never that caused radiating pain down his left leg which grew in intensity with time. The hospital records, letters to other doctors and information given to Mr. Plants over teh succeeding months all indicated that the operation had been done on the right side. Various explanations were given for the severe injury on the left, such as "positioning". Four months after the surgery, Mr. Plants saw another orthopedist at St. Luke's who examined the x-rays and scans and for the first time, Mr. Plants learned that the operation had been done on the wrong side. Meanwhile, the problem that was never dealt with on the right side had now become permanent, leaving Mr. Plants with pain radiating to both legs and chronic severe backaches. His days doing carpentry were at an end.
The case was set for trial on June 15, 2009. It settled 2 weeks before trial for 2.9 million. The plaintiff's witnesses were Sanford Larson, former head of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin; Dr. James Stoll, head of spinal surgery at the Orthopedic Hospital of Wisconsin; Dr. Sean Keane, orthopedic surgeon at Columbia/St. Mary's; and Dr. Itzhak Matusiak, psychologist at Advanced Pain Management. The main defense witness, Dr. George Cybulski, Professor of Neurosurgery at Northwestern University on the staff of Cook County Hospital in Chicago, testified on Dr. White's behalf. Preparing for the case, plaintiffs' attorneys learned that Dr. Cybulski had been disciplined by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, because he "testified too much as an advocate for the party retaining his services and not as an unbiased educator for the court and jury."
The Warshafsky Law Firm is committed to working with and for patients that injured as a result of Medical Malpractice. If you or someone you know has been injured by Medical Malpractice, please contact the Warshafsky Law Firm to discuss your rights.
