In Suhs v. Proassurance Casualty Co. (2019AP1062), the Court of Appeals District III dismissed a medical negligence case because the plaintiff failed to provide sufficient evidence of damages caused by a surgeon’s alleged negligence.

Plaintiff Suhs went to the emergency room with severe back pain that was diagnosed as a nervous condition requiring surgery. The surgeon performed the operation within 48 hours of the onset of Suhs’s symptoms. Suhs was discharged from the hospital after 18 days, but his condition did not improve completely.

Suhs filed the medical negligence claim against his neurosurgeon Dr. Mark Gardon, alleging that Gardon should have performed the surgery as soon as possible and failing to do so breached the standard of care.

The court found that Suhs failed to provide sufficient evidence for the negligence claim because

testimony from Suhs’s expert witness could not establish how soon the surgery should have been performed. The testimony provided no basis for a jury to determine damages specifically due to Gardon’s alleged neglilgence.