Mark Hodges and Charles Cowan successfully defended an emergency department physician in a wrongful death medical malpractice trial that began on September 17, 2018 in Lamar County Circuit Court in Purvis, Mississippi.

The patient’s family sued for failure to diagnose a ruptured spleen, which ultimately caused the patient’s death. Plaintiff’s expert witness contended the defendant physician performed an inadequate examination of the patient and failed to order a CT scan of the patient’s abdomen during an emergency department encounter following an assault.

Defense experts testified the physician’s examination was adequate and that there was no clinical indication for a CT scan of the patient’s abdomen. After the parties’ presentation of their cases, the jury deliberated for less than half an hour before returning a unanimous defense verdict for the Wise Carter client physician.