Senior Trial Partner Jacqueline D. Berger and Appellate Associate Richard Wolf, assisted by Associate Patrick G. Carey, secured summary judgment in a case involving a patient who was a pedestrian hit by a car and was brought to our client, defendant Hospital. The patient was evaluated for multiple leg and pelvic fractures. The patient was taken for surgery the next day to repair the humeral shaft fracture and examination of the pelvis. Following surgery, the patient was awake and stable. A few hours thereafter, the patient suddenly decompensated and died after an unsuccessful code. The cause of death based on autopsy, was bilateral pulmonary thromboemboli due to decreased mobility from the recent trauma. With an expert affirmation in trauma surgery, our client Hospital and trauma surgeon established that thromboemboli could not be prevented through medical anticoagulants due to the ongoing bleeding, low blood levels and need for surgery. Instead, pneumatic compression devices were applied prophylactically, which was the standard of care in this scenario. The Hospital and its named trauma surgery attending were successful in having the case dismissed in its entirety on summary judgment. The Court found that the defendants made a prima facie case, through a board certified expert in surgery and surgical critical care, in establishing that the care and treatment rendered to the patient was within accepted standards of care and did not proximately cause or contribute to her injuries and death. The Court found the plaintiff’s expert was not qualified to render an opinion because he was not an expert in surgery, trauma or critical care medicine. As such, the plaintiff's case was dismissed as to our clients in their entirety.