Woman Suffers Partial Paralysis of Hand, Chronic Nerve Pain from Botched Surgery to Remove Benign Mass; Settled for $500,000

A woman who underwent surgery to remove a benign mass from her armpit was permanently injured as a result of the surgeon's medical negligence, leaving her hand and arm paralyzed and consigning her to chronic nerve pain. Plaintiff developed a schwannoma, which is a benign tumor of the nerve sheath, and was referred to a surgeon for removal of the mass. She and her husband expressed to the surgeon their desire to avoid any nerve damage, even if that meant leaving part of the tumor intact, as she had previously had a schwannoma removed by a different surgeon without incident. The surgeon - who plaintiffs later learned had no experience in removal of schawannomas, no specialized knowledge of neurosurgery, and none of the necessary microsurgical equipment available for the procedure - elected to remove the mass by cutting out a 5cm portion of the patient's radial nerve, rendering her hand and arm partially paralyzed and in pain due to nerve damage. Kevin G. Liebeck of Hodes Milman represented the plaintiff and her husband in mediation, resulting in a $500,000 settlement