Lawless, Antonino and Barker Secure Summary Judgment Win on Behalf of Surgeon and Hospital

On January 29, 2019, Megan Lawless, Margaret Antonino and John Barker secured summary judgment in favor of a surgeon and hospital in the Supreme Court, New York County. The plaintiff had claimed that these defendants committed malpractice by performing unnecessary and contraindicated spinal surgery, and that they also failed to properly obtain the plaintiff’s informed consent. The Hon. Eileen A. Rakower held that the defendants established their entitlement to summary judgment by establishing that the plaintiff’s surgery was indicated and performed within accepted standards of medical care. The plaintiff’s expert was unable to refute this. The court also found no basis for upholding plaintiff’s informed consent claim, since plaintiff failed to establish that a reasonably prudent person in the plaintiff’s position would have foregone surgery if he had known the risks of same, a necessary element in every informed consent claim. The court’s dismissal forestalled the need for our clients to continue with costly litigation and a protracted trial on the merits.