$1.12 Million Jury Verdict for Negligent Performance of Unnecessary Spinal Surgery

Michael Jacobs, 32, suffered a compression fracture in his back at L1. For that condition he was seen by neurosurgeon Dr. Mudit Sharma, who prescribed pain medicine and a back brace. Jacobs’s condition then improved and he returned to full-time work. At a follow-up appointment, Dr. Sharma told Jacobs that he required a spinal surgery in which the surgeon would inject a kind of cement into the spinal bones.

Jacobs agreed to undergo the surgery. As a result of the surgery going awry, Jacobs claimed that he suffered a nerve injury that has left him with chronic pain and required expensive daily narcotic medications. He also alleged that the surgery caused leg atrophy. Jacobs was a construction superintendent earning about $98,000 a year before his fracture and surgery. Jacobs missed about 30 days of work because of the surgery,

Jacobs filed a lawsuit against Dr. Sharma and the owner of his practice group claiming that Dr. Sharma was negligent in performing the unnecessary back surgery. The lawsuit maintained that Jacobs was not an appropriate candidate for this spinal surgery and that Dr. Sharma had misplaced bone drills during the surgical procedure, which allowed hot cement to enter Jacobs’s spinal canal.

In addition, Jacobs argued that Dr. Sharma had urged him to have the procedure so that he could complete the requirements of his neurosurgery board certification.

The attorney representing Michael Jacobs was Donna Miller Rostant and Ann LaCroix Jones.

Jacobs v. Sharma, No. 2011-11174 (Va., Fairfax Co. Cir., November 2013)

Kreisman Law Offices has been handling medical malpractice lawsuits, surgical malpractice cases, birth injury lawsuits and nursing home negligence lawsuits for individuals and families who have been harmed, injured or died as a result of the carelessness or negligence of a medical provider for more than 38 years in and around Chicago, Cook County and its surrounding areas, including Alsip, Harvey, Oak Forest, Orland Park, Palos Park, Palos Hills, Hickory Hills, Worth, Burbank, Berwyn, St. Charles, Western Springs, Oak Park, Niles, Lockport, Lemont, Joliet, Geneva, Evergreen Park, Fox River Grove and Deerfield, Ill.

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