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Saturday, October 22, 2005On August 25, a Franklin County Common Pleas Court judge formally sanctioned a trial attorney for wrongly naming four OSMA physicians to a frivolous malpractice claim. The attorney was ordered to pay approximately $22,000 to the physicians as reimbursement for legal expenses incurred as a result of the frivolous suit. The case against OSMA physicians Mark D. Lomeo, MD, Sugat S. Patel, MD, Jack Dingle, MD, and N. Douglas Baker, MD, centers around a lawsuit filed by trial attorney George W. Leach, that alleged his client was permanently blinded as a result of laser surgery. Judge Richard Sheward noted in his written opinion, however, that documents reviewed early in the proceedings showed that Dr. Lomeo confirmed in writing prior to the plaintiff's surgery that the plaintiff was in fact considered legally blind due to proliferative diabetic retinopothy. "We were all dismayed and astonished that this case proceeded at all," said Dr. Dingle who brought their case to the attention of the OSMA Frivolous Lawsuit Committee. "But this victory shows that physicians do have options, and that they do have the power to fight back if they are wrongly named to a lawsuit," added Dr. Dingle?s attorney, Kevin Popham of Arnold Todaro & Welch. Judge Sheward also castigated the trial attorney in his opinion for filing suit against the four physicians..."despite the fact that some of these physicians (i.e. Dr. Dingle and Dr. Baker), never saw [Plaintiff] before [his surgery], and thus, could not be responsible for his prior permanent legal blindness," and for failing to find any expert witness that would testify that any of the physicians had failed to meet the standard of care in treating the plaintiff. " Sometimes you just have to fight fire with fire. posted by Sydney on 10/22/2005 01:19:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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