Alabama Jury Awards Couple $2.15 Million After Neurosurgeon's Spinal Fusion Leaves Man With Cauda Equina Syndrome
After trial: The trial court denied the defense's post-trial motion, and the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed the judgment on May 11, 2012. We could not confirm whether the judgment was paid.
Won by Hare Wynn Newell & Newton.
A neurosurgeon performed a lumbar fusion in July 2005 and, according to the Trammells' expert, never examined Thomas Trammell afterward despite classic signs of cauda equina syndrome, waiting ten days to operate again. An Alabama jury in March 2011 awarded Thomas $1,650,000 and his wife Barbara $500,000 for loss of consortium. The Alabama Supreme Court affirmed the judgment in May 2012.
What happened
On July 15, 2005, neurosurgeon Dr. Zenko J. Hrynkiw performed a lumbar fusion on Thomas Trammell to relieve pain in his lower back and numbness in his right leg and foot, caused by a herniated disk pressing on a nerve. The operation did not relieve the problem. Immediately afterward Mr. Trammell had weakness, numbness and pain in his legs, numbness in the perineal area, and urinary and fecal incontinence. Those are the signs of cauda equina syndrome, a compression of the bundle of nerve roots at the base of the spine that affects movement, sensation, and bowel, bladder, and sexual function.
The Trammells' case rested on two failures. They alleged that the first operation was done negligently, and that Dr. Hrynkiw then failed to act on a medical emergency. The neurosurgeon who testified for the Trammells, Dr. Robert Hash III, told the jury that hospital records showed Dr. Hrynkiw was notified of Mr. Trammell's condition but never performed a physical or neurological examination after the first surgery. By the day after the operation Mr. Trammell could not feel a touch to his penis, and the next day he had no feeling in his pelvic area and was incontinent repeatedly. Dr. Hash testified that urgent imaging and decompression are called for in such cases, and that treatment within 48 hours gives the best chance of recovery. Dr. Hrynkiw did not perform a second operation until July 25, ten days after the first.
The second surgery gave Mr. Trammell no relief. He is permanently partially disabled, with very limited mobility because of severe weakness in his hips and legs. He is impotent and has urinary and fecal incontinence.
Thomas and his wife, Barbara, sued Dr. Hrynkiw and his professional corporation on June 29, 2007, under the Alabama Medical Liability Act. Barbara added a claim for loss of consortium. S. Shay Samples and Bruce J. McKee of Hare, Wynn, Newell & Newton represented the Trammells, and Randal H. Sellers and Joseph L. Reese Jr. of Starnes Davis Florie represented the defense.
The case went to a jury from February 28 through March 4, 2011. The jury found for the Trammells and awarded Thomas $1,650,000 and Barbara $500,000 for loss of consortium, a total of $2.15 million. The trial court entered judgment on the verdict and denied Dr. Hrynkiw's motion for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial.
Dr. Hrynkiw appealed on two grounds. He argued that the Trammells had not offered substantial evidence that his postoperative care caused any of the injuries, and that the trial court wrongly let in testimony under the learned-treatise exception to the hearsay rule. He did not challenge the evidence on the negligent first surgery. On May 11, 2012, the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed the judgment in an opinion by Justice Bolin.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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