Notre Dame Football Coach Charlie Weis told a jury in Suffolk Superior Court on Wednesday that it is difficult for him to stand on his feet all day and he is unable to walk properly. He is suing the surgeons who performed his gastric bypass procedure for medical malpractice.
Weis, the former New England Patriots offensive coordinator, claims that Doctors Charles Ferguson and Richard Hodin acted negligently when they let him bleed internally for 30 hours following his surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2002.
This is the second trial related to Weis’s medical malpractice lawsuit. The first one ended in a mistrial last February after a juror collapsed and the two doctor defendants rushed forward to assist him.
Hodin, a Harvard Medical School professor, and Ferguson, the director of Massachusetts General’s surgical residency program, dispute Weis’s claim. Both men say that they provided the college football coach with excellent medical care.
Weis’s medical malpractice attorney says that the doctors were negligent for allowing Weis to bleed internally before conducting another operation to fix the complication. The football coach spent two weeks in a coma and almost died.
The defendants claim that internal bleeding is not an unusual complication related to gastric bypass surgery. They thought the bleeding would stop without their assistance, which is what they claim usually occurs in similar cases. The doctors say that they were cautious about performing the second surgery because they were worried that Weis would end up having a pulmonary embolism.
The plaintiff’s side says the delay in operation has left Weis with permanent numbness and pain in his feet. Rehabilitation from surgery has reportedly been painful. The pain he experiences sometimes forces him to use a motorized cart.
Medical malpractice law allows a person injured by a medical provider to file a lawsuit against the liable party.
Common causes for medical malpractice include:
• Wrong diagnosis • Failure to diagnose • Surgical errors • Birthing errors • Prescription errors • Lack of informed consent • Sub-standard care
Doctors, nurses, surgeons, and primary care physicians are just some of those in the medical profession that can be held liable for medical malpractice.
Medical malpractice cases are very complicated, which is why you should hire a medical malpractice law firm that knows how to prove that the injuries were a result of negligence on the part of a medical practitioner.
Weis Testifies in Medical Malpractice Case, My Fox Boston, July 18, 2007
Weis’s second medical malpractice lawsuit opens, Boston.com, July 17, 2007
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