Our Record of Success

Plaintiff v. Defendant Plastic Surgeon

Donohue Brown’s Anthony Pinto and Daniel Cozzi successfully defended a plastic surgeon in a medical negligence case spanning more than five years.

The plaintiff was a 55-year-old woman who saw the defendant at his office for a cosmetic filler procedure. The procedure appeared to go well and the plaintiff returned home that same day. Over the next few weeks, the plaintiff permanently lost vision in her right eye.

The plaintiff alleged that the defendant never informed her about the risk of blindness associated with the procedure. Although information regarding the risk of blindness was included in the consent form, the plaintiff claimed that she saw and signed only one page of the five page form, which mentioned no specific risks. She testified at trial that she would not have agreed to the procedure if she had been informed of the risk.

Pinto and Cozzi proved that the plaintiff received all five pages and was appropriately consented. The defense also argued that a reasonable patient would have undergone the procedure even if they knew about the rare risk of blindness before the procedure.

Finally, the defense argued that the plaintiff’s vision loss was not caused by the procedure because the onset of vision loss occurred days to weeks after the procedure, rather than immediately.

The jury deliberated for only 45 minutes before finding for the defense.