Stephen E. Rach (Partner) Obtains Defense Verdict in Medical Malpractice Action

KWMC successfully defended a neonatologist, who treated the 14 month old infant plaintiff on one occasion in the high-risk developmental clinic.  During his examination, our client performed an eye exam and noted a strabismus or pseudostrabismus.  As a result, he advised the mother to schedule a consultation with a pediatric ophthalmologist, and discussed the plan with the treating pediatrician.  Five months later, the mother noticed that the infant had a “cloudy” pupil and was positioning her head to use her left eye to see.  She went to her pediatrician, who referred the infant to a pediatric ophthalmologist, who diagnosed the infant with bilateral retinoblastomas.  The right eye needed to be removed, and the vision in the left eye was severely compromised.  

 

The plaintiff alleged that our client did not perform a red reflex examination and, had the exam been performed, the retinoblastomas would have been discovered and the right eye would have been saved.  Alternatively, the plaintiff alleged that the defendant should have sent the infant emergently to the pediatric ophthalmologist. 

 

The defendant testified that he did perform a red reflex exam, per his custom and practice, but he did not document normal findings.  This was further supported by his testimony that in order to determine that there was a slight right eye medial deviation he needed to use an ophthalmoscope, which is the same instrument used to check the red reflex.  Additionally, the defense expert – and agreed to by the plaintiff’s expert on cross-examination – testified that a finding of strabismus, with a normal red reflex, would not be a medical emergency. 

 

The Kings County jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendant.