Goodell DeVries Attorneys Win Defense Verdict for Primary Care Physician and Hospital in Baltimore City Jury Trial

By: GDLD | 2.1.17 | Case Results

Goodell DeVries attorneys K. Nichole Nesbitt and Jhanelle Graham obtained a defense verdict in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City for their clients, a Baltimore City hospital and its employee, a primary care physician. The patient and her husband alleged that the primary care physician was negligent in failing to investigate, diagnose and treat the patient’s vitamin B12 deficiency, leading to permanent neurologic injury.  The patient visited the doctor for four years and alleged that the primary care physician should have suspected and tested for a vitamin B12 deficiency two years prior to the date that the patient was diagnosed by another provider.  The defense argued that the signs and symptoms with which the patient presented to the defendant-doctor were not consistent with vitamin B12 deficiency, and that the doctor did not breach the standard of care by failing to test for a vitamin B12 deficiency.  The defense demonstrated, through expert testimony, that the patient exhibited nonspecific and non-neurologic symptoms that would not prompt a reasonable primary care doctor to suspect and test for a vitamin B12 deficiency, and that the patient’s current neurologic symptoms are not attributable to vitamin B12 deficiency.  After a seven-day trial and an hour of deliberation, the jury unanimously found in favor of the Defendants.