Date: 03-24-2007

Case Style: Joshua Coleman v. Stephen B. Jones, et al.

Case Number: Unknown

Judge: Unknown

Court: Circuit Court, Fulton County, Georgia

Plaintiff's Attorney:

Bill Stone and and David Boone of Boone & Stone, Atlanta, Georgia

Defendant's Attorney:

Mary Katherine Greene of Carlock, Copeland, Semler & Stair, LLP, Atlanta, Georgia

Description:

Joshua Coleman sued Dr. Stephen B. Jones, Dr. Robert Puhalovich, North Fulton Neurology P.C., and others on a medical malpractice (negligence) theory claiming that Defendants acted below the standard of care in the care and treatment given to him when eh underwent surgery to relive chronic back pain. Rather than achieving the desired result, Mr. Coleman, now age 19, was paralyzed from the waist down. Rods and screws were installed in Coleman's back but had to be immediately removed when it became apparent that the surgery was harming him neurologically. Puhalovich claimed he was only in the operating room for 10 minutes to make sure a technician properly hooked up a monitor to Coleman's head and feet to track nerve impulses along his spinal chord. The monitor's alarm went off during surgery, but the screws and rods installed during surgery weren't removed for six hours, leaving Coleman paralyzed. Coleman claimed that the surgeons should have awakened him during the surgery and had him wiggle his toes so that it would have been determined that the rods and screw were property installed and could have been removed in minutes rather than hours when it was determined that they were not properly positioned.

Dr. Puhalovich denied that any act, error or omission on his part caused or contributed to the harm suffered Plaintiff.

Outcome: Plaintiff's verdict for $11.7 million against Dr. Robert Puhalovich and his professional corporation.

Plaintiff's Experts: Unavailable

Defendant's Experts: Unavailable

Comments: Editor's Note: Verdicts like this are very rare in the area of medical negligence litigation. In addition, depending on what the other physicians paid, Dr. Puhalovich may owe Mr. Coleman nothing as a result of the verdict rendered against him.