Multnomah County jury ruled in favor of Jake Gleeson – former Portland Timbers goalkeeper, MLS cup winner, and Olympian — in a lawsuit against team doctor, Dr. Richard Edelson, on Friday, March 28th. The jury awarded Gleeson over $20 million, including $15 million in non-economic damages.
Gleeson was diagnosed with bilateral stress fractures in 2018, and underwent a surgery to implant metal plates in both of his shinbones. At the last minute, when Gleeson was already under anesthesia, Edelson realized that the plate for the right leg was missing, and the scramble to find a replacement set resulted in insufficient time to properly sterilize the plate that Edelson implanted.
The technique the doctor used to sterilize the missing plate, known as “flashing”, was central to the trial. Metal implants are typically sterilized for 4-6 hours, but the plate that was implanted into Gleeson’s leg was flashed for only 15-20 minutes.
Following the initial August 2018 surgery, Gleeson’s right leg showed signs of deep infection at the site of the flashed plate and screws. One of Dr. Edelson’s partners suggested to Dr. Edelson that the implants were the source of infection, then indicated they should be removed. Nonetheless, Edelson failed to convey this to another of his business partners, Dr. Greenleaf, despite knowing that Greenleaf was going to operate on Gleeson later that day. Greenleaf then performed only a simple wash-out surgery, which was ineffective. The infection spread to the plate and screws in the left tibia.
14 total surgeries were performed: 11 on Gleeson’s right leg and three on his left. Gleeson is left with chronic leg pain and faces risks of further complications. Testimony from friends and family portrayed Gleeson’s last 6 years of severe anxiety, panic attacks and depression.
National experts called by attorney Jason Kafoury cited virtually unanimous agreement among national medical organizations that implants should only be flashed in an emergency, defined as “imminent risk to life, limb, or function.” Nonetheless, the defense called experts who testified that orthopedic surgeons were free to interpret “emergency” as they saw fit, citing little more than the surgeon’s convenience.
In addition to negligence, the jury found that Edelson violated the standard of care in failing to disclose to Gleeson what had happened during the surgery. Edelson testified that he never mentioned it to subsequent physicians, or to anyone outside his operating room, claiming the flashing was “not relevant.”
Gleeson only learned what had happened months later when one of Edelson’s partners broke down and told Gleeson that he had been implanted with a “dirty plate.”
Gleeson said to ESPN that moving forward, he wants to be an advocate for patients, stating “When you’re put under anesthesia from a doctor, you expect them to follow these guidelines and these policies. It doesn’t matter if you’re an MLS player, it doesn’t matter if you’re an NFL player, it doesn’t matter if you work a desk job. When you sign that consent form, you’re signing that they’re going to do everything in their power to keep you safe. This doctor did not do that.”
From lead counsel Jason Kafoury: “Jake lived through every patient’s worst nightmare, that a doctor’s mistake will cause you great harm, and that the doctor will conceal the truth of what happened.”
Born and raised in New Zealand, Jake dedicated his life to the game of soccer, then moved to Portland, Oregon, when he joined the Timbers in 2010, starting for the team in its home debut at Jeld-Wen Field. At 20 years old, he was among the youngest goalkeepers ever to start in Major League Soccer. We had testimony from a former Timber goalkeepers coach and Timber legends Jack Jewsbury, Nate Borchers and Darlington Nagbe that Gleeson was a rising goalkeeper star who could have played an additional 10+ years as a professional. The verdict included over $4 million in past and future wage loss.
Read:
Former Portland Timbers GK Jake Gleeson awarded $20M in medical malpractice lawsuit – ESPN
Former Timbers goalie wins $20M from medical malpractice lawsuit | kgw.com
Jury rules in favor of former Timbers goalie in lawsuit against team doctor
Former Portland Timbers goalie awarded $20M in suit against team doctor