Summary Judgment Granted to Pain Management Specialist in Spinal Osteomyelitis Case

GS LLP obtained summary judgment and dismissal on behalf of its client, a board-certified pain management specialist, in a case involving an alleged failure to diagnose spinal osteomyelitis in a female presenting with severe back pain and a known lumbar disc herniation. Although plaintiff's expert claimed that our client should have referred the patient for an infectious diseases workup, blood work, and bone scan based upon an MRI finding of marrow signal abnormality within the lumbar spine, Supreme Court, Richmond County was persuaded by our legal arguments pertaining to a physician's duty of care. Citing to pertinent case law, we established that our client had a right to rely upon the MRI report of the interpreting radiologist, who recommended a repeat MRI in two months to further assess the marrow signal abnormality. We also established that a physician's duty of care is limited to those functions undertaken by the physician and relied upon by the patient; in that regard, we argued the plaintiff was referred to our client for a specific purpose—the administration of steroid injections to treat the pain associated with her herniated disc. The Court agreed that our client did not breach his duty of care towards the plaintiff and dismissed all claims against him.