EDWARD J. AREVALO AND ERISA GJINI SECURE A UNANIMOUS DEFENSE VERDICT IN SUPREME COURT, SUFFOLK COUNTY

On December 20, 2024, Edward J. Arevalo, assisted by Erisa Gjini, secured a unanimous defense verdict before the Honorable Stephen Hackeling in Suffolk County Supreme Court.  In this medical malpractice action, plaintiff claimed that right eye cataract surgery performed in 2015 led to a decrease in visual acuity and blindness in the right eye.  The defense contended that the cataract surgery was properly performed and that plaintiff’s decrease in visual acuity and blindness in the right eye was due to other conditions known as an epiretinal membrane and posterior capsule opacification.  Plaintiff refused to undergo any type of treatment or surgery for these conditions.  Regarding the informed consent claim, the jury found that the defendant ophthalmologist did not provide appropriate information to the plaintiff.  However, the jury found that a reasonably prudent person in the plaintiff’s position would have had the surgery had appropriate information been provided.  Regarding the medical malpractice question to the jury, the jury found that the defendant ophthalmologist did not depart from the standard of care in performing cataract surgery in March of 2015.  This was a one week trial with three hours of jury deliberations.