Delaware County Courthouse
MEDIA, Pa. – A Delaware County jury has hit a local neurosurgeon with a $900,000 verdict for failing to diagnose a spinal infection following a back procedure.
It was Dec. 4 when jurors found Dr. Joseph Scogna responsible for the injuries of Samuel Robinson, who filed suit against Scogna and others including Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital.
Defendants associated with and the hospital itself resolved claims against them before trial, leaving only Scogna.
“This verdict represents an important and clear message of accountability for individuals that are harmed by a medical mistake,” said Robinson’s lawyer, Jerry Martillotti of Jerry Martillotti & Associates in Philadelphia.
Robinson says he had to endure medical care to treat the infection, which also created the need for an additional back surgery. Scogna says the infection came about during post-op epidurals.
Scogna performed a right discectomy on April 1, 2016, and a week later, Robinson reported that “most of his leg pain is gone,” though some pain at the incision point remained. He returned to work, but by April 20, Robinson reported pain in his left leg.
Scogna has asked for a new trial, a reduction in damages or for the trial judge to overturn the verdict entirely. In a Dec. 15 motion, he points to a post-op MRI conducted by a radiologist who reported everything was normal.
It also says three months after the surgery, Robinson said abdominal and chest pain had just started “yesterday.” It wasn’t until that October that an MRI suggested the possibility of an infection, and Scogna ordered a procedure to collect more information that he says was never performed.
It will be up to Judge George Pagano to decide whether to affirm the verdict. Scogna said it was the product of conflicting testimony by Robinson’s experts.
Dr. Jeffrey Rihn said the collapse of disc height was not infection but a disc herniation, Scogna argues. Dr. Mark Stephen disagreed, Scogna said.
“In that Plaintiffs’ entire theory of causation rested on the presumption that the plaintiff suffered from an infection caused by the April 1, 2016, surgery, and that such infection was present for eight months, leading to a collapse of the disc space, the fact that Plaintiffs’ two experts testified inconsistently as to the cause of the disc space collapse rendered their testimony conflicting,” Scogna’s motion says.
Rihn had treated Robinson, whose lawyer says Rihn’s testimony was not expert testimony.
“Here, Dr. Rihn did not testify or offer any opinions whatsoever, let alone opinions to a reasonable degree of medical certainty,” Martillotti wrote. “Rather, all of Dr. Rihn’s testimony was that of a treating physician.”
Martillotti is asking for nearly $374,000 extra in delay damages, writing that Scogna never offered a settlement proposal. Other issues that remain include reducing the damages because Robinson allegedly won’t need future medical treatment.
