Lama v. Borras

Plaintiff was suffering from back pain and was referred to Defendant, a neurosurgeon. Defendant concluded that Plaintiff had a herniated disc and scheduled Plaintiff for surgery. Defendant neither prescribed nor enforced a regime of absolute bed rest prior to surgery, but did instruct Plaintiff to enter the hospital one week before the surgery in order to clean out his lungs. Plaintiff was a heavy smoker. Plaintiff was not subjected to conservative treatment. While operating, Defendant discovered that Plaintiff had an “extruded” disc and attempted to remove the extruding material. Either because Defendant failed to remove all the material, or because he operated at the wrong level, Plaintiff’s back pain returned in full force. Defendant scheduled Plaintiff for a second surgery. It is unclear if the second operation cured the herniated disc. However, shortly after the second surgery, Plaintiff began to experience severe pain in his back. Another doctor, Dr. Piazza, diagnosed Pl aintiff with discitis (an infection of the space between discs) and initiated antibiotic treatment. Discitis is extremely painful and very slow to cure. Plaintiff alleged that Defendant was negligent in four areas: (1) failure to provide proper conservative medical treatment; (2) premature and otherwise improper discharge after surgery; (3) negligent performance of surgery; and (4) failure to provide proper management for the infection. The jury awarded Plaintiff $600,000. Defendant appealed.