Health Care Litigation

Armstrong Teasdale represents hospital systems, physician practice groups, individual physicians, nurses and all other medical specialists within the health care industry. Our practice is not limited to defending litigated cases; we actively work with clients and risk managers to identify, avoid, and resolve risk.

We represent health care providers in a variety of complex medical matters. In addition to defending a vast assortment of medical malpractice cases, we also represent health care providers in administrative hearings, contract negotiations, and commercial litigation. Hospital systems rely on us in structuring their business operations in order to reduce risk and minimize liability.

Our practice group operates as a team, with each secretary, paralegal and attorney having distinct responsibilities geared toward efficient and effective service to our clients. We utilize state-of-the-art technology to help reduce costs, increase productivity and improve communication. Our team includes three JD RNs and several paralegal RNs, who combined, have over 50 years of clinical experience in various areas of medicine. In addition to our in-house medical skills, we retain world-renowned experienced consultants to help us evaluate and defend pending and threatened litigation.

We try cases. The trial lawyers in our practice group alone have in excess of 100 years litigation experience. We practice in both liberal and conservative venues, with equally extraordinary results. We have obtained numerous medical malpractice defense verdicts in courts that are considered to be notoriously plaintiff-friendly venues. In the area of medical malpractice, no other firm rivals our trial record.

The following defense verdicts were recently obtained by the Health Care Litigation Group. For a representative list of defense verdicts in previous years, please visit the Health Care Litigation Defense Verdict Archives.

• A defendant’s verdict was received in a medical malpractice case in which the mother, a patient at Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfreesboro, TN, developed difficulties while trying to push out the baby. The obstetrician used a vacuum and forceps to deliver the baby, who suffered hypoxia and trauma resulting in a complete neurologic disability. A seven week trial was held in Rutherford County Circuit Court. (2008)
• A defendant’s verdict was received in a medical malpractice case in which a baby born at St. Mary’s Health Center in Jefferson City, Missouri developed severe damage to her arm during the birthing process. A two week trial was held in St. Louis County Circuit Court. (2007)
• Obtained the Top Defense Verdict of 2006 in the state of Missouri as reported in Missouri Lawyers Weekly.  The family of a man brought a wrongful death lawsuit against the hospital and the man's doctor after the man went to the hospital with an infected toe and died when his myocardial infarction went undiagnosed. The defense argued that the standard of care was met by the hospital and doctor in both the assessment and treatment of the patient. (2006)
• A defendant’s verdict was received in favor of a physician in a case where the plaintiff argued that excessive pulling (traction) during her delivery by the doctor (our client) caused the child’s Erb’s palsy.  The defense argued that the doctor used the same amount of downward traction that he uses in any other delivery and the cause of the shoulder dystocia was the failure of the baby to completely rotate while coming through the birth canal. The case was tried in St. Louis City Circuit Court. (2006)
• The plaintiff alleged wrongful death due to a failure to diagnose, monitor and treat a myocardial infarction, to accurately interpret the EKG, and failure to provide interventional cardiology diagnosis and treatment including catheterization and angioplasty. The case was tried in St. Charles County Circuit Court and the jury returned a defense verdict in favor of the physician. (2006)
• The plaintiffs alleged the defendants failed to diagnose and treat an abdominal aortic aneurysm ultimately leading to a ruptured aneurysm and a wrongful death of the patient. The plaintiffs also alleged that defendants failed and/or refused to provide a complete copy of the medical records of the deceased with the specific intent and purpose of hiding and covering their own medical malpractice. The case was tried in St. Louis City Circuit Court and the jury returned a defendants’ verdict in favor of the hospital and the physician employed by the hospital. (2005)
• A medical malpractice case where the plaintiffs alleged that an OB/GYN physician failed to admit the plaintiff to the hospital to monitor her blood pressure and status of the fetus and as a result of the negligence, she suffered an abruption of the placenta, which resulted in the death of her baby. The case was tried in St. Louis County Circuit Court and the jury returned a defendant’s verdict in favor of the hospital. (2005)
• A medical negligence case where the plaintiff was admitted for colon cancer surgery and became confused, got out of bed, fell and broke her hip and suffered a significant fracture to her left hip that called for immediate surgery. The case was tried in St. Louis County Circuit Court and the jury returned a defendant’s verdict in favor of the hospital. (2005)
• Defendants’ verdict in favor of a physician and physician’s practice involving a wrongful death claim where the surviving spouse alleged the physician negligently perforated the decedent’s aorta during a procedure to place a pacemaker resulting in the death of the patient. The plaintiff’s attorney asked for $1.5 million compensation. The case was tried in St. Louis County Circuit Court. (2005)
• Defendants’ verdict in favor of a hospital and physician in a significant birth/trauma case where the plaintiff was alleging there was a failure to recognize and treat signs of fetal distress, leading to severe neurological injury to an infant. The hospital was the target defendant; plaintiff’s counsel asked that 75% of the fault be attributed to the hospital, with the remaining 25% attributed to the physician. During closing arguments, plaintiff’s counsel requested over $24 million. After nearly a two-week trial in St. Louis City Circuit Court, the jury returned a defense verdict. (2005)

Representative Matters

• Medical Malpractice & Wrongful Death of all types. Matters include, but are
  not limited to:
  • Obstetrical cases including Cerebral Palsy, Hypoxic Encephalitis, Birth Traumas
  • Emergency Care cases
  • Primary Care/Internal Medicine cases
  • Surgical cases
  • Failure to Obtain Informed Consent cases
  • Specialty Area cases (Cardiology, Neurology, Pediatrics, Hematology, Pathology, Radiology, Endocrinology, Oncology, Pediatrics, Ophthalmology, etc.)
  • Hospital Nursing cases
  • Home Health Nursing cases
  • Long Term Care Facility cases
• Representing Health Care Providers in Administrative Hearing
• Counseling Health Care Providers Concerning Regulatory Issues
• Contract Negotiations
• Corporate Structuring of Health Care Organizations
• Commercial Litigation Involving Health Care Providers
• Tort cases against Health Care Providers Other than Medical Malpractice
• Claim Investigations
• Educational Seminars to Health Care Providers
• Risk Prevention Seminars to Health Care Providers

Members of the Health Care Litigation Practice Group

Bryan, Maureen	Kovacs, Paul
Cole, Clark	Lowry, Kent
Demerath, Jeff	Ott, Dave
Fournie, Ray	Raleigh, Robert
Gearin, Tim	Selby, Anna
Kidd, Anita	Tamsky, Melanie