Patient Fainted In Examining Room After Prostate Biopsy
On Dec. 17, 2001, plaintiff James Rae, late 60s, underwent a transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy, or prostate biopsy, due to an elevated prostate-specific antigen, or PSA. Urologist John W. Johnson III performed the procedure in his office. Afterward, Johnson left Rae to allow him to dress in private. While Johnson was gone, Rae fainted, fell and broke his jaw.Rae sued Johnson for negligence in leaving him alone, alleging that he complained to the doctor of dizziness and wooziness after the procedure. Rae testified that while he was being taken by wheelchair to an adjacent hospital after the fall, Johnson apologized for having left him alone in the room.Johnson denied that Rae complained about or showed symptoms of dizziness or wooziness after the procedure. It was undisputed that, absent such complaints or clinical symptoms, it was reasonable for the doctor to leave the room.
Johnson acknowledged that, if Rae did make such complaints or showed any sign of such symptoms, Johnson should not have left him alone.
Disputing Rae’s testimony that Johnson apologized while taking him to the hospital, the defense asserted that a staff member, not the doctor himself, escorted the plaintiff.
The fainting was not a result of anesthesia; none was used. According to the plaintiff’s attorneys, it resulted from the pain and anxiety of having the biopsy.
Defense counsel said the cause of the fainting was not clear, and that it may have resulted from Rae’s then-undiagnosed stenosis of the carotid artery.
The plaintiff’s attorneys said that stenosis was not in evidence.
The biopsy turned out to be negative.
Rae fell face-first off the examination table and sustained two fractures of the jaw, one on each side. He was wheeled to the ER, and a plastic surgeon performed an open reduction, internal fixation, placing a titanium plate into the mandible. The plate was removed in a later procedure. The past medical bills were $20,000 to $25,000.
Rae claimed permanent partial numbness of the lower lip, which causes slight impairment of speech. He sought $100,000 for past pain and suffering, $50,000 for disfigurement, $100,000 for past physical impairment and $100,000 for future physical impairment.
The jury found no negligence by Johnson. Deliberations were 3.5 hours, according to defense counsel, or five hours, according to the plaintiff’s counsel.