Defendant Physician's Assistant's Videotaped Deposition

This is the deposition of a physician assistant (PA) in a case that resulted in a $5.2 million verdict. The jury found liability for both the doctor and PA even though the lawyer for both implicitly argued at times that the real responsibility lied with the doctor.

Facts of the Case

The plaintiff is/was a really good guy. A married father of two adult children, he was working two full-time armed security officer jobs. He started working armed security at the Social Security Administration in 2003 and started working full time at CMS in 2005.

On the date of the incident, he was working at the Social Security Administration building. He was on his way to the parking lot when he was injured. The SSA has a gate that prevents people from driving into the SSA loading dock. The loading dock is equipped with a safety gate that can spring up out of the ground in order to prevent a vehicle from entering the loading dock.

As he was walking out of the loading dock, another employee activated the gate just as he was walking across the gate which was down. The metal gate sprung out of the ground, lifting him into the air and trapped him in the gate. This is a big, strong guy. His left leg was twisted and intertwined in the gate.

As he was trapped in the gate, someone from the SSA noticed him and came to his aid. Paramedics arrived on the scene at 1428 and told him, “Don’t look at your leg.” He was transported to St. Agnes Hospital by ambulance. The paramedics documented his history that he stepped over into a security gate, that his foot got stuck inside the gate, that his body twisted, and that all of his pain was in his left knee.

TREATMENT AT ST. AGNES
He arrived at St. Agnes Hospital by ambulance and was triaged at 3:22 p.m. The triage nurse noted that he sustained a leg trauma at work, she noted a deformity, that he was unable to move his left foot, pain scale 7/10, and positive for pedal pulses. He was sent to the Urgent Care part of the emergency room. An IV for Dilaudid was inserted at 3:25. X-rays were also ordered at 1525. The Dilaudid was delivered at 15:27. So there is a good start here. They moved quickly.

Dr. Jackson claims Krupa Shah, PA ordered the pain medication and Krupa Shah, PA claims Dr. Jackson ordered the pain medication. Based on the testimony of both of these Defendants, it is clear that neither Jackson nor Shah ever took a history from Mr. Tolson or examined him before the administration of the Dilaudid, or before the X-rays were ordered.

Krupa Shah, PA examined the plaintiff at 4:00 p.m. The history that was taken by her is somewhat strange. She thought that his knee was struck by an overhead door. Her notes indicate, “left leg caught up in a barrier door.” She did document numbness, paraesthesia, and sharp pain. One of the theories advanced by the defense is that the plaintiff did not provide an adequate history describing the mechanism of injury that would suggest a dislocated knee. However, regardless of the history provided, Dr. Krupa Shah suspected a dislocated knee.

All the experts agree that if you suspect a dislocated knee, you have to rule out an injury to the popliteal artery. She never performed any type of laxity exam on his knee before or after the X-rays were done. The chart would suggest that she never even reviewed the knee X-rays. She concedes that upon discharge, the only neurovascular assessment she did of his leg was to take the pulse in his foot. According to our vascular surgeon expert, his injury would have been apparent in the Emergency Room. If he was examined properly, the injury to his popliteal artery would have been discovered in the Emergency Room. He will also testify that if a vascular consult occurred on December 3, 2009, he would not have lost his leg.

Krupa Shah’s testimony is that the emergency room only evaluates for life or limb-threatening injuries and that orthopedic injuries can wait. But she failed to do the one thing she is there do to: save his limb. The medical literature suggests that 33% of all dislocated knees result in an injury to the popliteal artery. For a PA to suspect a dislocated knee and fail to rule out an injury to the popliteal artery amounts to a breach of the standard of care - slam dunk.

Our firm worked hard on this case to get the plaintiff the verdict he deserved. But the jury liked and respected him. That is a big deal. Even after losing his leg, he went back to work as an armed security office as quickly as he possibly could. He is not a malingerer and he is not a complainer. He works hard to overcome his disability and is hard-pressed to even describe how losing his leg impacts his daily life. He is glad he is alive, and he went through a lot with a smile.

You can find more sample depositions at http://www.millerandzois.com/Sample_Depositions.html

Видео Defendant Physician's Assistant's Videotaped Deposition канала Miller & Zois, Attorneys at Law