43
Woman awarded $400K verdict; Warren doctor sued over knee surgery
Warren doctor sued over knee surgery
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
YOUNGSTOWN
A jury has awarded $400,000 to a woman who said she suffered permanent injuries after a knee surgery almost six years ago at Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital.
The award was made late Thursday to Sandra Banfield of East Liberty Street, Girard, who had sued Dr. James D. Brodell of Warren.
Visiting Judge Thomas P. Curran presided over the four-day medical-malpractice trial in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Six of the eight jurors signed verdict forms saying they found Dr. Brodell negligent and that he departed from acceptable standards of medical care. They awarded Banfield $200,000 for past pain and suffering and $200,000 for future pain and suffering.
The same group of six, which is the minimum required to render a verdict in a civil case, signed a form saying they found Dr. Brodell’s negligence was a direct cause of Banfield’s injuries and pain.
On Aug. 10, 2004, Brodell surgically removed Banfield’s knee, but he discovered the artificial knee, made from titanium, was too small, and he could not make it fit, Banfield’s lawyers said in court papers.
Instead of installing the artificial knee, Dr. Brodell inserted cement spacers and closed the wound with metal staples, and transferred Banfield to Beeghly Oaks, then to University Hospitals in Cleveland.
She then had a second surgery, after which the wound became infected, necessitating three more surgeries and antibiotics, before a fourth surgery for implantation of the artificial knee, Banfield’s lawyers said.
The lawyers noted that the manufacturer of the knee had sent multiple letters to Brodell telling him what they needed to determine the proper size of the knee and told him they could not guarantee the fit because Brodell had not provided scaled X-rays. Brodell, Banfield’s lawyers wrote, admitted the letters were in his file but he had never read any of them.
Dr. Brodell’s lawyer, Stacy Ragon Delgros of Akron, said she disagreed with, and was disappointed by, the jury verdict and is considering an appeal.
“We felt that the jury did not hold the plaintiff to her burden of proof,” she said.
Dr. Brodell “did what he knew to do in ordering the custom component, which ultimately was not found to fit,” Delgros said.
On Aug. 18, 2004, Banfield received a knee replacement at University Hospitals in Cleveland, and the infection followed that surgery, Delgros said.
“We thought, quite clearly, the evidence showed that the infection was not related to Dr. Brodell’s actions in any way,” she said.
After two more surgeries to clean the infected wound, the implant was removed due to the infection Sept. 15, 2004, and Banfield received antibiotics, Delgros said. After the infection cleared, she received a total knee replacement in December 2004, which she still has today, Delgros said.
Banfield was represented by Attys. Patrick C. Fire of Boardman and Joseph W. Gardner of Canfield.