Staten Island jury clears neurologist in cardiac arrest and foot drop of 24 year old

The defendant neurologist prescribed the beta blocker, Inderal, 160 mg Long Acting, for the 24-year-old plaintiff's benign essential hand tremor. When plaintiff complained of chest pain and not feeling well while on the Inderal, defendant instructed him to come off the medication by taking it every other day for a week before stopping it. Plaintiff sustained a cardiac arrest the second day after having last taken the drug. He suffered a permanent foot drop while in a medically induced coma during the ensuing hospital admission. Plaintiff's experts in neurology and cardiology faulted defendant for prescribing the medication in an excessive dosage and discontinuing it without a gradual taper over a period of several weeks. They claimed that the abrupt stoppage of the Inderal caused plaintiff to develop a near fatal arrhythmia and ventricular fibrillation. Defense experts countered that there was no relationship between the medication and the arrest. Testing proved that plaintiff had no coronary artery disease. The Following a four week trial, the jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of our client after deliberating for just an hour. This was Mr. Gerspach's 45^th defense verdict in his last 48 verdicts taken.