Another Big Win for Chris DeFrancesco in Onondaga County

Chris DeFrancesco successfully defended an infectious disease specialist who was charged with failing to timely diagnosis and treat a post-operative infection.  Plaintiff alleged the physician failed to acknowledge the patient was septic and that an infection had developed at the site of the surgical incision following a below the knee amputation.  Plaintiff claimed that as a result of the failure to timely treat the infection he required two surgical procedures resulting in a revision to an above the knee amputation. Chris successfully established the use of an empiric broad spectrum antibiotic was contraindicated based on the patient’s clinical presentation which did not support a diagnosis of sepsis and that antibiotics should not have been administered without identifying the definitive source of the infection.  He further established that even if a broad spectrum antibiotic had been ordered it would not have been effective against the source of the infection that was ultimately diagnosed and that the need for additional surgery to address the infection was unavoidable.  The jury deliberated for just over an hour before returning a unanimous verdict in favor of the defendant in Onondaga County Supreme Court.