Rothman Orthopaedics appeals $43.5 million malpractice verdict against former Eagles captain Chris Maragos

The four Rothman doctors who rehabilitated former Eagles captain Chris Maragos after a knee injury in 2017 were simply following the instructions of a renowned NFL surgeon. The orthopedic institute should not be forced to pay its share of a whopping $43.5 million in damages for medical malpractice, Rothman’s lawyer argued Tuesday.

Attorney John J. Hare pleaded with a three-judge panel of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania to find that a Philadelphia jury erred in finding the Rothman Orthopaedic Institute guilty of medical negligence by putting the Eagles’ former doctors in a desperate situation.

After the two-week, star-studded trial in 2023, which took place in a Philadelphia City Hall courtroom as the Eagles prepared for Super Bowl LVII, the jury awarded Maragos $43.5 million in damages, finding that doctors committed “medical negligence” when they decided to ignore damage to the player’s meniscus while he was recovering from another knee surgery.

” READ MORE: A jury in Philadelphia awarded $43.5 million to a former Eagles captain who sued his doctors for a career-ending knee injury.

But during Maragos’ rehabilitation at the NovaCare Center in the summer of 2018, Hare argued, Rothman’s doctors followed the orders of Pittsburgh-based orthopedic surgeon James Bradley. Bradley had operated on the safety’s knee, but decided against a meniscus operation – and Maragos’ lawyers had not proven where exactly each doctor individually failed, Hare said.

Hare claimed that according to Maragos’ argument, Rothman’s doctors would have been in the wrong in any scenario, either if they had performed “non-consenting surgery” on Maragos when Bradley was his surgeon or if they had continued to pressure the All-Pro special teamer during rehabilitation.

But Dion Rassias, Maragos’ lawyer, told the panel that the negligence was clear: The Eagles’ doctors should not have allowed the team captain to continue running on dry land at speeds of up to 30 km/h and lifting weights while his knee was “broken.”

“You can’t expect an athlete, a racehorse, to run and train with a torn or bulged meniscus and then expect him to survive,” Rassias replied.

During the trial – which featured legendary former Eagles quarterback Nick Foles, his “Philly Special” colleague Trey Burton and linebacker Jordan Hicks – Maragos testified that he trusted his doctors and battled through the discomfort during rehabilitation in the hope of being able to play again. “I thought it was normal,” he said of the unbearable knee pain.

Ultimately, the jury needed less than three hours to decide that Maragos’ doctors were liable. Bradley should pay around $29.2 million and Rothman around $14.3 million. With the damages, Rothman’s total rose to $15.8 million.

” READ MORE: Nick Foles and other 2018 Super Bowl champions testified in court in Philadelphia in the case of the former Eagles captain who is suing his doctors

An economic expert told jurors that the former team captain lost nearly $8.7 million in earnings because he retired nearly two years after his knee injury and was unable to finish his career. Hare stressed to the appeals judges that this amount was five times less than the “remarkable” jury verdict, which was handed down the morning after the Eagles’ heartbreaking loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Maragos’ lawyers claimed that doctors who treated the player’s torn posterior cruciate ligament following an injury during the Eagles’ 2017-2018 Super Bowl season ignored damage to his meniscus, leading to a premature end to his football career and lifelong knee problems.

” READ MORE: A former Eagles captain is suing his doctors in a Philadelphia court over a career-ending knee injury. Here’s what you need to know.

However, lawyers for Bradley and Rothman argued that doctors knew about Maragos’ meniscus and concluded that surgery would have done more harm than good.

In addition, the doctors’ lawyers argued, the damage to the meniscus was caused in a separate weight room incident months after the original injury. And they argued that when Maragos injured his posterior cruciate ligament, he had already completed an eight-year career in the NFL – more than twice the league’s average career of 3.3 years. Doctors said they did everything they could to extend the then-31-year-old’s professional career. After doctors told him he would never play again, Maragos retired from the NFL in 2019 and filed the lawsuit shortly thereafter.

Bradley – a widely recognized surgeon known for his work with NFL athletes, including former Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz and Pittsburgh Steelers Ben Roethlisberger of the Steelers – told the jury that if he had believed the player needed a second surgery, he would have done it “immediately.”

Bradley, who was also the Steelers’ team doctor for more than 30 years, has since settled his claims with Maragos, Rassias said. Bradley’s attorney, John Conti, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

More than a year later, Rothman is still reeling from the jury’s stunning verdict.

Earlier this month, the private orthopedic group ended its decades-long partnership with the Eagles, citing the risk of such verdicts. Since the Maragos trial, juries in the city have handed down more major malpractice verdicts, and a new rule allows more cases to be heard in Philly Common Pleas Court – a practice that experts say could have a chilling effect on private medical groups that work with professional sports teams.

” READ MORE: The Rothman Institute ends its partnership with the Eagles as official team physician due to risk of medical malpractice

Because Rothman – whose malpractice insurance only covers $1 million – was sued as a company, all of the practice’s partner physicians will have to share the majority of the damages. If the appeal is lost, that amount could rise to as much as $18 million.

After a period of legal wrangling — in which Maragos’ lawyers asked for a freeze on Rothman’s finances until the group made its payments — the two sides agreed in April that Rothman would deposit $8 million into an account and add a million each month until the judgment reached $15.8 million. If the appeals court rules in Maragos’ favor, the money will be made available to him, according to the judges’ opinion, although a timetable for the decision is unknown.

Maragos, 37, who now lives in Michigan, was not present at Tuesday’s hearing, but his attorney insisted the three-time All-Pro player deserved every penny of the compensation awarded by the Philadelphia jury.

“Chris Maragos was a deity in this town,” Rassias told the judges. “He told the jury what it was like to wake up in this town with that lineage and what he felt.”