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Senior Trial Partner Jacqueline D. Berger successfully obtained a unanimous Defense Verdict on February 13, 2026, in Queens County Supreme Court in favor of MCB’s ophthalmology client following a three-week trial.
The Plaintiff was a then 54-year-old married female who went completely blind with no light perception. MCB’s client, an ophthalmologist,was accused of negligent care on March 10, 2017, when he was called from the ER for an ophthalmology consult at 4 a.m. for a patient with partial vision lossin the left eye. Multiple examinations had already been performed in the ER,including a stroke workup and ocular ultrasound, which were negative. The patient had a history of ulcerative colitis and a rectal bleeding event priorto her ER presentation, and she was slightly anemic, with a hemoglobin of 8.7. MCB’s client ophthalmologist advised the ER staff that he and his resident could come into the ER immediately for a partial examination, then perform afull examination later in the clinic, or conduct a one-time evaluation in the clinic as soon as it opened four hours later, at 8:30 a.m. The ER staff gave that choice to the plaintiff, who chose to go home and then proceed to the clinic in four hours. The ER staff discharged her with that follow-up appointment, for four hours later, and she was visually and hemodynamically stable.
At the ophthalmology clinic presentation, a full workup ensued for 3 hours, and the diagnosis was still unclear. The patient fainted toward the end of the visit, at which time MCB’s client ophthalmologist determined that the likely diagnosis was ischemic optic neuropathy from bloodloss, now that it was known that the patient was unstable and that her hemoglobin and/or blood pressure may have dropped since the ER. A hemoglobin of8.7 is not compatible with a diagnosis of ischemic optic neuropathy from blood loss since typically, the hemoglobin level is less than 7 with this diagnosis.The patient was sent back to the hospital immediately with the presumed diagnosis and a treatment plan, including blood pressure control and blood transfusions. Over the next few days, the plaintiff had additional rectal bleeding events, drops in hemoglobin levels as low as 7.0, and multiple transfusions while being cared for by the medical and hospitalist staff. While plaintiff’s partial vision remained static up to this point, she woke up on day 3 of her hospitalization completely blind.
The Plaintiff claimed that MCB’s client ophthalmologist should have examined the patient in the ER, made the diagnosis, and started treatment earlier, thereby avoiding the fainting episode at the clinic visit,which may have contributed to the insult to her optic nerves. Ms. Berger, with the use of ophthalmology and neuro-ophthalmology experts, demonstrated that the equipment in the ER was not sufficient to diagnose this patient’s condition and that advanced equipment in the clinic was necessary. It was further established that, based on the information MCB’s client ophthalmologist had at the time; the call from the ER at 4:00am, the patient was stable to come to the clinic, as reported by the ER staff. The experts also testified that there is no reliable treatment for ischemic optic neuropathy from blood loss and that plaintiff’s “loss of chance” theory was complete conjecture; there was no credible evidence that seeing the patient four hours earlier in the ER would have prevented blindness three days later or reversed the partial vision loss she already had.
Plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury to award $45 million tothe plaintiff and her husband, which the jury rejected for MCB’s client ophthalmologist.