In a medical malpractice case with Baltimore ties, former Baltimore Raven Samari Rolle has won a medical malpractice case filed in North Carolina against an orthopedic surgery practice.
Rolle was a former cornerback in the NFL who played four years (2004-2008) with the Baltimore Ravens. In September of 2008, he received a spinal surgery for fusion at the C3-C4 vertebrae. Although the surgery was successful, Rolle claimed in his lawsuit that the orthopedic surgeon cleared him to return to the team and play football too soon. This resulted in the failure of the fusion. Though Rolle then received another fusion by another surgeon, "he developed nerve problems in both his arm and hand due to the alleged medical negligence, which led to his early retirement from football."
The case was filed in North Carolina where the defendant orthopedic surgery practice is located. The surgeon who had performed the operation passed away before the case came to trial, so the case was filed against the practice as a whole. Rolle sought unpaid wages which he would have earned playing football in the NFL had he not been a victim of medical negligence. According to Medical Malpractice Lawyers, "The North Carolina medical malpractice jury returned what is considered to be a compromised verdict: $650,000, which would have been Mr. Rolle’s net income had he played in the NFL for one more year."