Morrison Mahoney Partner Peter Knight, with the valuable assistance of Associate Caroline Kelly, successfully completed a four-week medical malpractice jury trial with a defense verdict. The plaintiff was brought into the emergency department with quadraparesis following a bad fall while under the influence of a controlled substance. Medical tests showed no dislocation but there was evidence of cord compression. Our client, a neurosurgeon, diagnosed the problem as central cord syndrome, but concluded based on knowledge of Acute Traumatic Central Cord Syndrome (ATCSS) that emergency surgery was not required. After a thorough consult with the medical team, surgery was carried out fourteen hours later. The plaintiff claimed decompression of the cord was required by the standard of care to be carried out immediately and that our client failed to personally review the images and examine him. The plaintiff also claimed profound disability in both upper and lower extremities. However, at trial the plaintiff’s expert admitted under cross-examination that his pretrial expert designation was “plain wrong” in several key respects and was confronted with literature that supported our defense that ATCCS has shown no improvement in outcome with surgery at any time within twenty-four hours.