Surgeon Causes Traumatic Brain Injury During Sinus Surgery

During routine sinus surgery, the surgeon breached the bone at the base of Client’s skull with a surgical tool called a microdebrider. CT scans taken before and after the surgery established the missing piece of bone at the skull base.

Our experts in otolaryngology and neuroradiology were prepared to testify at trial that the sinus surgeon penetrated through the skull base bone into Client’s brain with the microdebrider, causing Client to suffer a series of strokes that led to permanent neurological impairment. Our experts were prepared to testify that the surgeon breached the standard of care during the surgery, and also when he failed to rule out other possible causes of Client’s headaches before recommending surgery.

The surgeon’s experts were prepared to testify that damage to the skull base bone is a known risk of sinus surgery and can occur despite careful and appropriate surgical technique, that Client did not show signs or symptoms of a skull base breach or a brain injury during post-operative care, and that Client’s brain injuries were the result of an infectious disease process when the sinuses communicated with the brain after the skull base bone breach.

The case settled shortly before trial for $3 million.