Defense Verdict in Hinds County Med-Mal Trial and Other News from the Weekend
Hinds County Defense Verdict
There was a defense verdict returned on Friday in a Hinds County medical malpractice trial. I do not know the names of the parties or the facts of the case. The vote was 11-1.
Heber Simmons of Ridgeland represented the plaintiff. Mildred Morris of Watkins Eager in Jackson represented the defendant. Stuart Harmon of Jackson represented a defendant who was dismissed via a directed verdict. Judge William Gowan presided in the case.
Wall Street Journal Article on Dr. Adam Lewis
Saturday's Wall Street Journal had a long front-page article about Jackson neurosurgeon Dr. Adam Lewis. Anderson writes about the article here. The article focuses on the death of a 48 year old patient who died hours after back surgery in April.
The WSJ had the man's medical records reviewed by nationally preeminent surgeons, who said that the man was not a candidate for surgery.
Lewis has a high rate of surgeries on his patients and owns part of the company that sells the devices that he implants. Anderson states:
So many doctors cannot rest content making a good living from being doctors; they have to own their own MRI, or their own specialty clinic, or their own medical-device company.
The article (which is behind a pay wall) heavily quotes Lewis' attorney, Whit Johnson with Currie Johnson in Flowood. Dr. Lewis gets sued a lot and is a controversial figure in the Jackson medical community. I don't think that Jackson doctors are surprised by the allegation that Dr. Lewis operates on too many patients. I reported a verdict from earlier this year here.
Kingfish quotes much of the WSJ article here.
Sun-Herald Article on Former Miss. Supreme Court Justice Joel Blass
The Sun-Herald ran this article over the weekend on former Supreme Court Justice Joel Blass of Pass Christian. Blass bucked the racist norm in the Mississippi Legislature in the 1950's and was highly respected in the legal community. The article quotes current Supreme Court Justice Jess Dickinson:
Jess Dickinson, a presiding State Supreme Court Justice, practiced law with Blass in Gulfport in the early 1990s.
“The practice of law today really needs a dose of professionalism,” he said. “The lawyers have gotten so strident and aggressive. They do so in an attempt to represent their clients, but professionalism has seemed to drift away from this profession.
“Joel Blass exhibited the epitome of professionalism. He is a gentleman’s gentleman, a lawyer’s lawyer, a scholar, and a mentor to every lawyer, whether they were in his firm or not. You could always trust him.”
Justice Dickinson's comments are consistent with everything that I've heard about Blass.
I'm pretty sure Dr. Lewis has filed a notice of appeal in that one case he lost.
Yep. 2011-TS-01116, Adam Lewis v. Joanne Hartwig.
This case is Estate of George Fleming v. Makau Lee et al, 2010-120.
Death case involving the treatment at the ER of a GI bleed related to a stomach ulcer. Plaintiff alleged should have performed an upper endoscopic procedure. Defense suggestion plaintiff contributes with heavy drinking and the use of iboprofen.
Interesting. I was Dr. Lee's patient once. Nice guy.
I'm not sure how the plaintiff "contributed" to failure to control a GI bleed with alcohol and Advil, unless he was imbibing them at the hospital. But doubtless there was a lot going on at trial; see also Philip's remarks on suing a doctor.