November 3, 2003
The accident occurred on June 23, 2001 as the plaintiff was traveling westbound on Interstate 80 in Fairfield Township, Essex County, New Jersey. The plaintiff was driving in the right lane when an unknown vehicle suddenly and forcefully struck his 1998 Cadillac DeVille from behind, causing the plaintiff's vehicle to lose control and continue traveling off the roadway down a steep embankment in the center median. The vehicle which caused the accident fled the scene and was never identified.
As a result of the accident, the plaintiff was initially treated in the emergency room at Saint Clare's Hospital. In the hospital, he complained of pain in the left shoulder, neck, and lower back, and x-rays of the cervical and lumbosacral spine were performed, reflecting degenerative arthritis and no fractures. The clinical impression in the emergency room was cervical and lumbar strain, for which the plaintiff sought physiotherapy and chiropractic care. He treated for about one month, at which time he was referred for manual muscle testing to a rehab center. On July 23, 2001, exactly one month after the accident, plaintiff presented to Morristown Memorial Hospital with an abrupt onset of severe headache and back pain, and shortness of breath. When seen in the emergency room, he complained of severe intrascapular pain, as well as diaphoresis (excessive perspiration) and a headache. A neurological evaluation and emergency CT scanning of the head were ordered, and revealed a subarachnoid hemorrhage with possible ruptured basilar artery tip aneurysm.
Plaintiff was promptly transferred to Overlook Hospital for definitive angiography, which showed a left vertebral and basilar artery with marked tortuosity and a suggestion of dissection with a midbasilar large circumferential aneurysm. As a result, the plaintiff was hospitalized at Overlook Hospital for several weeks during which he was stabilized. Due to the complexity of his neurological condition and the need for precarious interventional surgery, he was referred to Buffalo State University of New York. An initial attempt was made to treat the aneurysm endovascularly, but the plaintiff suffered an episode of ischemia (sudden blood vessel contraction) during the procedure and became unresponsive with right hemiplegia and aphasia (loss of ability to express thoughts by speech, writing or gestures). He was then transferred to an inpatient rehabilitation hospital until he could be rehospitalized for further surgery.
On September 17, 2001 he was treated with a vertebral artery cutdown and stenting of the aneurysm, and coiling of the lesion. Further diagnostic and surgical procedures took place over the next few weeks, and on October 12, 2001 he was discharged to Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in New Jersey. Although the procedures were successful, they left the plaintiff wheelchair bound with significant residual neurologic deficits, including a visual field defect.
The plaintiff's physicians concluded he had sustained a dissecting pseudoaneurysm of the vertebral basilar system resulting from the trauma of the accident. They concluded that the symptoms had developed one month following the motor vehicle accident, without any intervening trauma, and resulted from a vertebral dissection and development of an aneurysmal lesion. This traumatic dissection, which occurred during the car accident, eventually caused the subarachnoid hemorrhage that brought the plaintiff to the hospital emergency room one month later.
Attorney Amos Gern was able to resolve the case for all available insurance coverage without going to trial.
