Kathleen M. Kramer

Significant Representative Matters: Obtained a defense verdict after a week-long jury trial in a medical malpractice case. The plaintiff alleged she sustained a bowel perforation injury in the course of a robotic-laparoscopic hysterectomy. The procedure was performed by an obstetrician/gynecologist. During the course of the procedure, a general surgeon was called in to evaluate the bowels for injuries. There were no injuries found, so the procedure was completed, and the patient was discharged the following day. Two days later the patient returned in critically ill condition, and a bowel perforation in the sigmoid colon was identified. The plaintiff alleged the providers negligently failed to detect the injury during the hysterectomy. After a week-long trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of all defendants.; Obtained a defense verdict following three-week jury trial in wrongful death and survival case involving complex claims/theories medical negligence in which verdict exposure was over $1 million; appeal followed; obtained a dismissal of plaintiff's appeal and unanimous appellate court affirmance in a published opinion (2016 PA Super 142) in an issue of first impression regarding waiver for failure to order, pay for, and cite to official transcripts in plaintiff's post-trial brief (Phila Cty 2016).; Obtained pre-trial dismissal of 11 claims against three defendants and then defense verdict following 14 minutes of jury deliberations in three-week jury trial in wrongful death and survival case involving claims/theories of medical negligence in which verdict exposure was over $1 Million (Phila Cty 2016).; Obtained a defense verdict following month-long jury trial in obstetrical negligence case in which plaintiff's demand to settle was $100 million involving allegations of catastrophic birth injuries and testimony from 14 expert witnesses; no appeal followed (Phila Cty 2015).; Obtained a defense verdict for a hospital client in a wrongful death action involving a medication overdose where the patient was given 1,000 times the amount of medical ordered by the physician (Phila Cty 2011).; Obtained a defense verdict for a hospital client in a trial involving allegations that the defendants were negligent in failing to anticoagulate the patient following surgery thereby causing the patient to sustain a stroke. This was the second time this case was tried to verdict as it was originally tried to a defense verdict in 2004, after which the plaintiff appealed (Phila Cty 2009).; Obtained a defense verdict for a psychiatric hospital in a trial involving allegations that the patient was negligently discharged as the patient committed suicide shortly after discharge (Phila Cty 2006).; Obtained a defense verdict for a hospital client where it was alleged that they failed to properly diagnose and treat a stroke (Phila Cty 2006).; Published Works: ' Seismic Shift in Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Informed Consent Cases,' co-author, Defense Digest, Vol. 23, No. 4, December 2017; 'Beating, Gunfire and Loss of Employment Not Foreseeable From Misdiagnosis of Syphilis,' co-author, Defense Digest, Vol. 7, No. 1, February 2001