Immediate Past President Molly H. Craig, Partner at Hood Law Firm, LLC, obtained a directed verdict on the fourth day of a medical malpractice trial in Charleston County, South Carolina.
Plaintiffs alleged the Defendant was negligent in failing to order diagnostic studies of the Plaintiff’s breast following an abnormal palpable breast finding. The Plaintiff presented to her gynecologist complaining of a lump found during a breast self-examination. The doctor performed a breast examination, found there was no discrete mass and did not order follow-up diagnostic testing to rule out malignancy. When the Plaintiff returned for her annual physical eleven months later, a mass in the Plaintiff’s breast was detected requiring mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation for Stage III breast cancer.
At the close of Plaintiff’s case, the defense moved for a directed verdict on the basis that the Plaintiff failed to present sufficient evidence to prove the Defendant’s negligence was the proximate cause of the Plaintiff’s injuries and damages. The judge granted the Defendants’ Motion for Directed Verdict.