On October 31, 2022, Alan J. Fumuso obtained a Defendant’s Verdict after a two week trial in Supreme Court Nassau County before Judge David Sullivan. The defendant surgeon did a complete surgical removal of a large, circular, 9 X 9 cm. epidermal inclusion cyst on the 51 year old male plaintiff’s back. Post operatively the plaintiff sustained numerous complications including bleeding from the wound which required a further hospitalization, and two additional major reparative operations by a plastic surgeon which left the plaintiff with a restrictive, unsightly, large zig-zag scar on his back. Plaintiff’s expert alleged that the defendant was negligent in not doing a less invasive incision and drainage, and not giving the plaintiff that treatment alternative. Defendant contended that an incision and drainage would not have completely eradicated the infected cyst, and that the extent of plaintiff’s disease warranted a complete surgical removal as the only treatment alternative. Defendant also contended that the plaintiff sustained recognized post operative complications, and that the plaintiff voluntarily left his care shortly after the procedure, thereby denying the defendant the opportunity to treat the plaintiff’s wound non-surgically. Plaintiff in his summation asked the jury for $1,750,000 in damages. The jury deliberated parts of two days, and returned a unanimous verdict on behalf of the defendant surgeon.
