Fayette County Jury Returns $9.5 Million Medical Malpractice Verdict for Botched Vasectomy

Historic Fayette County Verdict

Mr. V, a 40-year-old man, presented to his urologist’s office to undergo a routine vasectomy to prevent him from having any more children. After being told he was a good candidate for the procedure, he and his wife scheduled the surgery, which was expected to last 20-30 minutes. At no point in time did the urologist perform a physical examination on Mr. V prior to the surgery to properly identify his anatomy.

Following the procedure, the urologist informed Mr. V’s wife that the surgery did not go as planned because he could not accurately identify the anatomical structures necessary to perform the vasectomy and instead of stopping the procedure, he decided to clip what he thought might be the proper structure. Because the doctor failed to verify what he clipped, he caused Mr. V to lose blood supply to his testicle. As a result, Mr. V lost his testicle and now suffers permanent pain and numbness in his groin causing him sexual dysfunction.

In this case, the doctor should have performed a pre-operative physical exam to accurately identify Mr. V’s anatomy prior to performing the surgery. This would have allowed the doctor to obtain imaging to confirm Mr. V’s anatomy and prevent permanent injury to the structures within the testicle. The improper treatment of Mr. V caused him permanent injuries. The physician responsible and his insurance carrier made no financial offer to settle this case. Perry Calder attorneys Michael Calder and Jennifer Webster tried the case to verdict in Fayette County, Pennsylvania where a jury returned a verdict of $9.5 million dollars – believed to be the largest medical malpractice verdict in county history.