Type of Action: Medical Malpractice
Verdict or Settlement: Defense verdict
Injuries Alleged: Permanent nerve injury due to failure to protect neurovascular bundle in the back of the knee during total knee arthroplasty.
Court: Arlington County Circuit Court
Tried before: Jury
Date Resolved: September 9, 2026
Amount: $2,350,000 demand,$0 award (defense verdict)
Attorneys for defendant (and city): Michael E. Olszewski, Allison N. Riley, and Brian Han, Fairfax
Description of case: On December 3, 2018, plaintiff underwent a total knee arthroplasty at Virginia Hospital Center. Prior to closing the knee completely at the end of the surgery, the defendant orthopedic surgeon released the tourniquet to ensure there were no small vessels bleeding that could cause a hematoma to form inside the knee joint. Upon releasing the tourniquet, there was significant bleeding from the popliteal artery, which is part of the neurovascular bundle in the back of the knee, and the defendant immediately applied pressure and called a vascular surgeon to repair the artery. The vascular surgeon successfully repaired the artery.
Plaintiff claimed that the defendant orthopedic surgeon cut the plaintiff’s popliteal artery and injured both the tibial nerve and the peroneal nerve. They claimed that while the artery was repaired, the nerve injuries were permanent, causing significant neurologic damages.
The defense argued that there are multiple other ways in which plaintiff could have sustained this injury, apart from the defendant’s breach in the standard of care. The defense demonstrated that the defendant orthopedic surgeon properly used a retractor during the surgery, and that vascular injuries are a known risk of undergoing a total knee arthroplasty. The defense also argued that the focal neuropathy sustained during the surgery was temporary. Plaintiff’s medical records demonstrated that any evidence of focal neuropathy had significantly recovered in 2019 through 2020, and had fully resolved by 2021. The defense showed that the plaintiff was diagnosed with diabetic peripheral neuropathy in 2021, which explained why she still experienced symptoms of nerve injury even after the focal neuropathy attributable to the surgery had resolved.
After four days of evidence, the jury deliberated for one hour and twenty minutes, returning a defense verdict.
