The Scott Fischer Closing That Delivered a 6-Figure Award in a Hospital Fall Case

Plaintiffs’ attorneys must overcome a tendency for some jurors to give a subconscious “benefit of the doubt” to a hospital or other medical provider in their care of patients. In a negligence case over the bone-breaking fall a hospital patient suffered, Scott Fischer’s skillful closing neutralizes any such potential predispositions, and secures a six-figure win. 

Dolores Moore broke her hip in a late-night fall from a bed at the West Boca Medical Center. In his closings at trial against the hospital, Gordon & Partners' Fischer emphasizes the injury at the heart of the case was not because of some medical complication or complex treatment. Instead, he notes, Moore was admitted because of low sodium in her blood, or hyponatremia, a relatively minor condition that rendered her dizzy and weak. 

“She didn’t have a heart attack. She wasn’t going to have major surgery,” Fischer tells jurors in closings. “People go to the hospital with a lot more serious conditions than this.”

In contrast to more involved treatment, Fischer says, the hospital had a reasonably straightforward objective when caring for Moore: “have her safe, get her hydrated, get the sodium level back up, and get her back home.  [It’s] not hard. This wasn’t a huge challenge for this hospital.”

Fischer’s repeated emphasis on her condition serves as powerful counter for any implicit benefit of the doubt a juror may give a healthcare provider based on their expertise. And it’s the launching point for how he argues staff failed in those relatively simple duties. 

Fischer goes on to argue the hospital’s safety protocol constituted “form over substance,” highlighting evidence that a nurse rushed Moore through a fall-warning sheet. “And as you notice, there was only one thing the nurse was supposed to circle and she didn’t even fill it out,” Fichser says, “so you can imagine how long that discussion actually was.

“That’s form over substance. That doesn’t stop Dolores Moore from falling out of bed.”

Fischer then walks jurors through the four steps that could have prevented the fall — including ensuring the appropriate number of rails were raised and lighting the room better. Each one is relatively straightforward compared to other duties jurors understand that hospitals must undertake. 

“This was absolute negligence,” Fischer says. 

Fischer’s closing adeptly highlighted what many jurors would likely consider commonsense safety standards rather than medical judgement calls. It helped eliminate any potential, subconscious bias in favor of a hospital’s care, and it led to a $909,000 verdict.