The Supreme Court of Mississippi threw out a woman's medical malpractice lawsuit Dec. 4 after she failed to prove that a neurosurgeon did not deliver the standard of care required, according to Legal Newsline.
The woman sued after she became paralyzed following a 2011 surgery performed by Adam Lewis, MD, of Jackson (Miss.) Neurosurgery Clinic.
She alleged her paralysis is a result of the procedures performed by Dr. Lewis after he failed to manage the woman's mean arterial blood pressure during the initial operation.
The woman's expert opinion on the first surgery was provided by Neill Wright, MD, but was found to be unreliable and struck by a lower court, which granted summary judgement in Dr. Lewis' favor.
Dr. Lewis challenged Dr. Wright's opinion with several articles, which intimate that there is no set standard of care regarding a preferred range for mean arterial pressure during spine surgery.
The court also sided with the defendants in the second procedure, ruling that the woman did not provide admissible proof that Dr. Lewis failed to comply with the standard of care.