Attorney Gets $10 Million for Client in Philadelphia

A Philadelphia attorney won a big case for a client in a case of misdiagnosis.

A Scranton lawyer was able to obtain a $10 million award for a 60-year-old man who as misdiagnosed with a fatal neuromuscular disease. The doctor in question was a noticed expert on ALS.

The attorney in this case, who has a brother in the U.S. Senate, represented the 60-year-old man in a two-week trial at Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. According to the suit, the client will have to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, due to the misdiagnosis.

The decision of the jury found the doctor was negligent when he diagnosed the client in 2003 with ALS, known commonly as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The damages the jury assessed came out to more than $10.1 million.

During the trial, the attorney argued that the doctor, who was medical direction of the ALS Association Center at the University of Pennsylvania, failed to perform necessary tests and consult with radiologists before making his diagnosis of ALS for the client. Hospitals in Long Island and Manhattan have noted this.

Due to the misdiagnosis, the doctor told the client, his patient, that the man had only 18 months to three years to live. It was more than three years before the client received the correct diagnosis – a spinal cord compression. He had already made plans for his funeral.

According to the attorney, if his client had been properly diagnosed back in 2003 by the doctor, he could have been treated with surgery. The passage of time, however, has rendered his condition inoperable. The 60-year-old man, a New Jersey resident, now has permanent leg paralysis and must use a wheelchair to get around.

As for the doctor, it is not known what actions, if any, the hospital will be taking after the verdict against him. No further information on any of the trial’s participants is available at the moment

If you or a loved one have been harmed by the actions or negligence of another, you need the services of a NY Medical Malpractice Lawyer. Only a NY Medical Malpractice Lawyer can represent you properly so your side of the story is told in a court of law.