Doctors Found Not Negligent in Medical Malpractice Case

Shannon Weidemann

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A medical malpractice case involving the head football coach for Notre Dame has ended with the jury finding the doctors not negligent in their care and treatment. The football coach had gastric bypass surgery in 2002. There were complications and a second surgery was needed. He claims that he is still suffering from the surgery today.

Ferguson, director of Massachusetts General's surgical residency program, and Hodin, a surgeon and professor at Harvard Medical School, said internal bleeding was a well-known complication of the stomach stapling surgery. They said they believed the bleeding would stop on its own and were concerned about performing a second surgery because of the risk of a pulmonary embolism.

Ferguson testified that Weis ignored his advice and pushed to have the operation done quickly rather than going through a recommended six-week preoperative program.

This was a second trial for the case. The first ended in a mistrial after a member of the jury collapsed and the two doctors on trial went to help him.

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.