The Hippocratic Oath is more than a doctor's promise to themselves; it's a signal to patients that they can trust medical practitioners with their lives. When a woman named Geneva underwent a planned hip replacement, she had no reason to expect the worst of a relatively simple procedure. During the procedure, her surgeon failed to notice that he'd accidentally torn open her iliac artery and some smaller veins. Post-surgery, uncontrolled internal bleeding led to critical laboratory abnormalities. However, neither the surgeon nor his staff bothered to seek out a diagnosis, nor would they test for any conditions that might have developed. Instead, they treated her symptoms, ignored possible causes, and continued to permit her deterioration. Her altered mental status finally prompted imaging, but it was too late. The pooling blood in her abdomen congealed into a pulmonary embolism that traveled to her brain. She suffered a stroke. Despite her life-altering brain injury, the hospital dragged its heels before transferring her to a more capable hospital. Two hours after the stroke symptoms manifested, she arrived at the second facility half-paralyzed, with less than half of her circulating blood volume remaining, and facial droop left her unrecognizable.
At the time of the accident, Geneva was an 84-year-old retired schoolteacher whose career had weathered intense challenges. She had been a single mother and an advocate for minority students during an era in which doing so was difficult and unpopular. She had worked in a state capital,where community involvement had won her recognition and accolades well beyond those of typical educators. Age hadn't eroded her sharpness or the winsome personality that someone might expect from a seasoned mentor. Even after her botched arthroplasty stole some of her faculties, she remained a delight to care for — and that care is what she deserved. She'd become unable to use her left arm and leg fully, and she had debilitating neurological impairments.
Geneva suffered with these afflictions for two years before her case was brought to the medical malpractice experts at the Finnell Firm. The firm's owner and operator, Bob Finnell, had decades of experience in litigating catastrophic cases like Geneva's. Bob sympathized with not only her current hardships but those that awaited her should her considerable needs not be met. Because those needs were the fault of an otherwise competent physician at a major medical institution, Bob was in for an equally major fight. However, having litigated thousands of similar cases made Bob's training for that fight unmatched.
Bob knew that Geneva deserved compensation for her injuries as well as for their life-altering sequelae. He also knew how to navigate the partially open-door policy of the medical facility responsible for Geneva's poor condition. They were approachable and willing to discuss the case, but they wouldn't necessarily agree with Bob's reasonable demands. He took a pragmatic approach, perceiving that both sides were negotiating against risk. He didn't need to file Geneva's case in court to get the Defendant's attention.
As a major medical institution, the Defendant had access to all of the medical experts that they could possibly need; they had their own excellent lawyers; and they were financially well-off. Bob was aware that the lattermost fact meant that they could provide what they unquestionably owed. Their counterargument, however, was that the Defendant hadn't injured Geneva in a manner that had caused her inarguable decline. To them, Geneva's stroke was an unlucky accident. Bob turned to the expertise of a renowned anesthesiologist with whom he'd consulted on several previous cases. The anesthesiologist analyzed the vast medical documentation and imaging available in light of what standard practices should have mandated. He connected Geneva's worsening signs and symptoms and her ultimate fate to their surgical causes. Then, because medicine is infamously tough to explain to laypeople, Bob reached out to DK Global for their expertise. Together, they worked with the anesthesiologist to produce a thorough yet concise visual presentation of the case's pertinent data.
Throughout DK Global's presentation, the anesthesiologist narrated significant details of the victim's case. Timestamps and a clock in a corner of the presentation established a precise chronology of events. The presentation began with an animation of the victim's arthroplasty. A model of her entire body preceded a recreation of its internal structures. Each step was shown and briefly detailed in captions. The animation stopped during the step where the injury occurred and showcased how it was inflicted. The animation returned to an overview of the patient's body while displaying a graph of blood pressure readings during the procedure. A chart of the victim's differential diagnosis and appropriate tests followed. The presentation then detailed the recovery period, including screenshots of critical laboratory values, studies, interventions, and other relevant documentation. A recap of critical laboratory values preceded animated models of the victim's internal injuries. The victim's CT and MRI scans accompanied and matched these models. The animation ended with external manifestations of the victim's injuries.
In mediation, Bob insisted that the mediator should be somebody who would take the time to understand the evidence on both sides of the case. Negotiations afterwards were hard but fair. Both sides reached a confidential settlement over a week later. Geneva and her family were pleased with the outcome. Bob couldn't restore what had been taken from her, but he was able to guarantee that she'd be comfortable and happy for the rest of her life.
Bob Finnell is the owner, operator, and sole practitioner of the Finnell Firm. He considers his primary hobby to be practicing law and is driven by a passion for helping his clients overcome their injuries. Bob possesses more than four decades of legal experience in cases of personal injury and medical malpractice. He has protected the rights of more than ten thousand victims. Bob is recognized throughout Georgia and nationwide as the co-inventor of ExhibitView, a courtroom presentation tool. He has received the Guardian of Justice Award from the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association.
