Bare Doctor Blog: Lubell & Rosen Law Firm

January 12, 2009, Fort Lauderdale: A jury found no liability against all defendants in one the largest medical malpractice trials in the history of Broward County, Florida.

Mark L. Rosen, Esq. and Isabel Del Cid, Esq., of the law firm of Lubell & Rosen, LLC, located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, led the defense team for the defendant, Jason Strong, M.D., an on-call internist. Other defendants included Dr. Lorentina Kocik, Dr. Rajkumar Nebhrajani, and Memorial Hospital West. The trial lasted nearly 3 months. The Plaintiff, Lisa Strong, was represented by the law firm of Searcy, Denny of West Palm Beach, Florida.

The case involved catastrophic damages allegedly caused by a delayed diagnosis of a kidney stone infection to a Ms. Lisa Strong, the plaintiff. (no relation to Dr. Jason Strong). Ms. Strong presented herself to the Hospital at 12:30 am, with serious complications. At 6:35am, Dr. Strong, the on call internist, was called, but did not come into see Ms. Strong at the hospital. Mr. Rosen, on behalf of Dr. Strong, argued that when Dr. Strong was called, kidney stone complications were not disclosed to the doctor and the seriousness of Ms. Strong’s condition was not explained.

Ultimately, several hours later, the kidney stone infection was discovered. By that time sepsis had developed in Ms. Strong’s extremities. Both of her hands and both of her feet required amputation. Ms. Strong was in her late 30s at the time and has two minor children.

The plaintiff asked the jury for $75 million dollars.  After three days of deliberation, the jury found no liability. No word yet if the plaintiffs plan to appeal.

Dr. Strong had no malpractice insurance. The law firm of Lubell & Rosen, established in 1994, concentrates its practice on representing doctors that do not carry malpractice insurance. Lubell & Rosen, despite only being paid a flat fee, put in over 1500 billable hours defending Dr. Strong over three years and ten weeks of trial. Furthermore, the firm, at its own expense, spent tens of thousands on defense costs, including expert witnesses, over 30 depositions, transcripts, and elaborate trial exhibits.

The verdict is a victory for all uninsured doctors falsely accused of malpractice. Uninsured doctors have been “picked on” by large plaintiff’s firms. Lubell & Rosen’s flat fee program allows doctors to put on a top notch defense, at a flat cost, instead of settling.

The verdict also brought vindication to Dr. Strong, who maintained his innocence since the inception of the case. Both Lubell & Rosen and Dr. Strong offer their profound sympathy to Ms. Lisa Strong and her family.

In D'Ambrogio v. Cohen, the plaintiff was required to undergo a partial colectomy to remove a two-tooth bridge from her colon, after she swallowed it.  Plaintiff alleged that the dentist negligently fitted the removable bridge causing it to be loose, and ultimately swallowed.  The jury came back after only 3 hours of deliberation to find for the defendant.  The actual bridge was produced at trial, and defendant argued that the subject "bridge" did not resemble the bridge fabricated by the dentist.  Evidence showed that a previous bridge had been worn for almost 38 years without incident.  Case#04-018083 (04).   

In Hippely v. Walgreens, the pharmacy was found liable for improperly filing a prescription of Coumadin which led to the death of the patient.  Instead of the one milligram tablets which were prescribed, ten milligram tablets were dispensed.  As a result, the pateint suffered a cerebral hemorrage which resulted in coma.  The Coumadin was being used as part of chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer.  Although the defendant argued that the cancer was the final cause of death, the plaintiff responded that the cancer treatment had to be stopped as a result of the hemorrage and coma--which were directly caused by the overdose of Coumadin. At trial, Plaintiff sought $45 million in damages. Case#2003-CA-003967.