Paul Karp (Partner-New York), assisted by Rosa Ruiz (Associate-White Plains), obtained a unanimous defense verdict on behalf of a vascular surgery team in Westchester County Court. Plaintiff’s father (a 71-year-old) was diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in 2013, and instructed to return in six months for a follow-up CT scan, but did not return until 2017. The AAA had grown to 5.8 cm, and open surgical intervention was indicated. The surgeons performed an elective open repair of the AAA, which was complicated by a tear in the aorta intraoperatively, and he died after a 44-day hospital course, during which he underwent nine additional surgeries. Paul cross-examined the plaintiff’s expert based on the fact that they do not perform either open AAA repairs or the experimental endovascular repairs plaintiff suggested as an alternative. Paul retained an internationally recognized expert in endovascular and open repair of aortic aneurysms. The defense expert vascular surgeon (who also does in fact perform advanced endovascular repairs of the kind that plaintiff claimed should have been considered) opined that the procedure performed in this case was appropriate and that a CT scan cannot be used as a “crystal ball” to predict the integrity of aortic tissue before an operation. He further opined that the decedent was not a candidate for the “experimental” non-FDA approved endovascular stents that plaintiff argued the deceased should have had the option to consider. The jury that presided over this three-week trial deliberated for under four hours. The team expressed appreciation to paralegal Frank Howell for his assistance in this matter.