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SKETCHES OF COURT: Jury to weigh disputed use of stapling device during medical procedure

April 23, 2015 By Alba Acevedo Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Court sketch by Alba Acevedo
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In this courtroom sketch, Hon. Sylvia Ash listens as plaintiffs’ attorney Judith Livingston (standing), of the law firm Kramer, Dillof, Livingston & Moore, conducts a cross-examination in the medical malpractice trial of Suzanne Devine and George Devine, v. George S. Ferzli, MD, George S. Ferzli, MD PC, Lutheran Medical Center, Brian P. Bollo, MD, Michael Mangonon, DO, and Michael F. Timoney, MD last week in Kings County Civil Term. 

At issue in this trial is the claim of departure from accepted standards of medical practice. Suzanne Devine, 38 years old at the time, elected to undergo a bowel resection operation in February 2010 after a history of flare-ups of diverticulitis. The surgery in simplest terms would remove the troubled section of colon and reattach the healthy sections. A surgical connection, an anastomosis, would be created using a stapling device that is inserted through the rectum. 

Within days of the surgery the plaintiff complained of fecal contamination of her urine. The plaintiff claims that procedural safeguards were not taken during the operation and the stapler was improperly positioned, and created a connection between her colon and her vagina. 

Defendant Dr. Ferzli is represented by Sean Dugan (seated, right), of the law firm Martin Clearwater & Bell, and Drs. Bollo, Mangonon, Timoney, and Lutheran Medical Center are represented by CaraMia Hart (seated, second from right) of the law firm DOPF, PC. The trial continued this week.  

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