John Blincow, Jr. Received Defense Verdict

John and another Turner Padget attorney, Ashley Heslop, received a defense verdict yesterday in the Charleston County Court of Common Pleas where plaintiff’s demand was $1.6m:

“We represented a cardiologist who was sued by the widow of one of his patients. The deceased had been diagnosed with mitral valve disease and ventricular tachycardia, a dangerous arrhythmia. Our client recommended surgery to repair the valve. This recommendation did not appear in the patient’s chart. The patient refused surgery and our client referred him to an arrhythmia specialist. The patient died suddenly a few months later. The deceased was only 44 years old and had a very nice family. He left a wife and two young children so it was an incredibly sympathetic case.

The Plaintiff contended that our client did not recommend surgery in strong enough terms and did not convey the risk of dying from a sudden cardiac event. The plaintiff also contended that we did not adequately follow the patient who should have been seen on a frequent basis. The defense was that the patient was told that he needed surgery and that he made a choice not to proceed. We also contended that we met the standard by getting him to a subspecialist to manage his arrhythmia. That physician also recommended surgery.

Interestingly we ended up with a very young jury; the oldest juror was 41 years old. One juror was selected and made his way to the jury box with his skate board. And so it goes.”