Sommers Schwartz attorneys Kenneth Watkins and John Malone III secured a verdict of nearly $4.9 million after an Oakland County, Michigan, jury unanimously found the defendant cardiothoracic surgeon and hospital liable for the wrongful death of their patient.

The patient, then 68 years old, presented to William Beaumont Hospital on February 17, 2020, for an elective open-heart surgery with Cardiothoracic Surgeon Francis Shannon, M.D. The patient was sent to Dr. Shannon by his cardiologist, and Dr. Shannon recommended the patient undergo surgery to replace his aortic valve and repair the mitral valve. However, prior to obtaining the patient’s consent, Dr. Shannon did not inform the patient of the alternative option to undergo a minimally invasive procedure called transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).

Dr. Shannon completed the planned surgery, but post-operatively the decedent developed complications which progressed into multi-organ system failure. Various measures, including a return to the operating room, proved ineffective at stopping the patient’s decline. On March 20, surgeons discovered that the patient’s small intestine had become completely infarcted, which made the patient’s long-term survival impossible. The next day, the patient died with family members at his bedside after life support was withdrawn. 

During the trial, the plaintiff argued that Dr. Shannon had a duty to obtain informed consent from his patient, and that he violated this duty when he failed to inform the patient of the alternative TAVR procedure to address the aortic valve disfunction. Had Dr. Shannon properly informed the patient regarding the option of TAVR, the patient would have chosen this significantly less invasive option, which would have avoided the heightened risks of the open-heart dual-valve replacement surgery and likely entirely avoided the post-operative complications the patient ultimately suffered. After an eight-day trial, the jury agreed with the plaintiff, finding the defendants’ medical negligence was a cause of the decedent’s untimely death.