ARFD Partner, Robert Chappell successfully obtains a partial summary judgment dispensing with a novel theory of brain injury caused by multiple exposures of anesthesia!

Aaronson Rappaport would like to congratulate Partner, Robert Chappell, on his partial summary judgment win in favor of our client in a New York County matter involving alleged injuries to an infant as a result of multiple surgeries.

Plaintiff’s pediatric neurology expert presented a novel theory that there is a causal connection between anesthesia and brain injury in humans by opining that the infant’s alleged injuries, including neurotoxicity, neurological injuries, and other sequelae, were caused by repeated and prolonged exposure to anesthesia. In doing so, plaintiff’s expert relied on a 2016 FDA announcement and various articles and abstracts that discussed the subject matter. Rob successfully argued that plaintiff’s expert’s opinions were speculative and conclusory, and were not supported by the record, and that plaintiff’s expert’s novel theory on the causal connection between anesthesia and sedation medication used on infants as the cause of the neurotoxicity and neurological injuries in the infant plaintiff was not generally accepted as reliable in the scientific and medical community. In accepting Rob’s position, the Court dismissed plaintiff’s damages claim that the infant’s alleged injuries were caused by repeated and prolonged exposure to anesthesia, and, thus, significantly limited the scope of the allegations and the breadth of the injury claims at issue in this case.

ARFD is happy to celebrate this win for Rob and our clients.