John E. Hall, Jr., Received Defense Verdict in a Medical Malpractice Case

IADC Member, John E. Hall, Jr., recently received a defense verdict after a 3 week jury trial in a medical malpractice case filed in the United States District Court, for the District of Columbia. The case involved a 29 year old female diagnosed with an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) located on both sides of her thalamus, discovered inadvertently following an MRI taken as part of unrelated medical research. An AVM is an abnormal group of arteries and veins within the brain in which blood flow is more turbulent than in normal anatomy, carrying risks including hemorrhage, stroke, death, and neurological decline. At the time of diagnosis, her AVM was asymptomatic, but she developed signs and symptoms of progressive neurological decline from the AVM over the following year and a half, including changes in speech and walking, onset of incidents of narcolepsy, and abnormal reflexes. She was treated with embolization procedures by a neuroradiologist, who planned a total of ten embolization treatments and subsequent radiation surgery to slow the flow of the AMV and potentially obliterate it, but the patient experienced continued neurological decline subsequent to the first three procedures and chose to stop the embolizations. It was alleged by the Plaintiffs that the decision to undergo the embolization procedures was below the standard of care because, it was alleged, her AVM remained asymptomatic. The jury returned a verdict finding that the defendant physician and hospital did not breach accepted standards of care in the treatment provided.