Daniel Cray and Benjamin Beringer successfully defended the actions of a neurologist and his employer in a medical malpractice suit brought on behalf of a patient rendered a quadriplegic by post-surgical complications.  The injured plaintiff’s wife also sued after giving up her job to be her husband’s 24-hour-a-day attendant care giver.

Plaintiff argued the neurologist failed to appreciate and act upon an emergency situation where plaintiff’s blood pressure was not perfusing his spinal cord.  The Cray Huber attorneys argued that the lower blood pressure was not an emergency and was due to medications, including two narcotics.  The defense also argued that the proximate cause of plaintiff’s quadriplegia was a rare and unpredictable reperfusion injury occurring after an acute decompressive laminectomy.

The jury deliberated nine hours before rendering its verdict.  Plaintiffs had asked for $40,000,000, including almost $10,000,000 in past and future medical and $2,000,000 in future salary and benefits.  After the verdict, the following testimonials were received from the neurologist and the president of the neurology clinic:

Testimonials

“Dear Dan:

You (most especially you), Ben and Rodney, not only restored my trust in the justice system, but also made me appreciate your profession in its pursuit of the truth.  Your going out of your way to meet with me at various odd times demonstrated your professionalism and was very reassuring.  I must say you stand out among the lawyers I have ever met.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

“Dear Dan and Ben:

I hope you were able to get a few days of rest after the enormous and exhausting work you put in defending me.  I do not believe I had anyone ever fighting for me as hard as you did.  I thank you from the bottom of my heart not only for your exceptional expertise and professionalism, but especially for the genuine respect, trust and compassion toward me.  I truly felt being among friends from the first minute to the last.  I want you to regard me as your friend as well.  And I want you to know that I would be honored to do a good deed for you someday too.  I would also like to offer my personal thanks to Rodney for his dedicated work on this case for many years.”