Philadelphia injury attorney
Leonard Hill, founder of Hill &
Associates, P.C., represented the estate of Ellen Breen, who died following a minimally
invasive surgery that went wrong.
PHILADELPHIA, May 12, 2024
/PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Philadelphia injury attorney Leonard Hill, founder of Hill & Associates,
P.C., represented the estate of Ellen
Breen, who died following a minimally invasive surgery that
went wrong. Hill's colleague Susan
Ayres also assisted in representing the plaintiffs.
Hill said that "when we try cases, we try
to emphasize to jurors why it's important for them to hold doctors
accountable because the next case could be you."
The jury awarded a $10 million
verdict in favor of the plaintiff on February 13th. The jury found that Ellen Breen's death following an operation at
Albert Einstein Medical Center occurred as a result of the
surgeon's negligence. The plaintiffs claimed the surgeon who
operated on Breen failed to consider risk factors that complicated
the procedure—a laparoscopic removal of Breen's ovaries and
fallopian tubes.
The plaintiffs contended that the surgeon did not properly
familiarize herself with Breen's medical history, and used medical
techniques that did not consider complicating factors like the
decedent's obesity. The plaintiff's pretrial memo stated that the
operation was meant to be a "minimally invasive outpatient
surgery". During the operation, one of Breen's arteries was
severed, and she died three days later after undergoing several
invasive corrective surgeries, the plaintiffs said.
Leonard Hill stated that "the
lesson we learned from this trial was that when doctors don't take
responsibility for their actions, jurors make them pay. Hill said
that the defense particularly focused on Breen's obesity at trial,
which he contended backfired. He said the plaintiffs pointed out
that, given the prevalence of obesity in America, doctors should be
prepared to operate on obese patients. "Just because a patient is
obese doesn't mean that they should get a lower standard of care,"
he said.
Hill said that "when we try cases, we try to emphasize to jurors
why it's important for them to hold doctors accountable because the
next case could be you." Leonard
Hill said the verdict reflects jurors' protectiveness toward
members of the public.
Defense lawyers for Albert Einstein Medical Center argued that
it provided appropriate care and noted that Breen had a history of
health issues and prior surgeries. Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell &
Hippel partner Gary Samms, who
represented Einstein, said he thinks the verdict was wrong. He said
the jury was "problematic" and "ignored the evidence", improperly
basing its decision on emotion rather than the facts of the
case.
"Sometimes, no matter how good the medicine is, if the jury's
not open to hearing the evidence, you can't do much about it. We
have to do a better job making sure the jury understands the
medicine," Samms said.
The case, captioned Scott v. Einstein Medical Center, was tried
before Judge Craig Levin of the
Philadelphia Court of Common
Pleas.
Media Contact
Ray Mitchell, Gravimetric, 1
(864) 376-2267, ray@gravimetric.io, https://gravimetric.io/
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SOURCE Hill & Associates, P.C.