A surgeon is sued when a patient developed arterial blood clots after ankle surgery
The case ended in a mistrial. An arterial blood clot is uncommon: “The defense, however, argued that Horrell’s particular complication after her surgery was utterly unheard of and that Fugate could not have been reasonably expected to discern it.”

Perhaps the patient had some underlying heart disease that led to arterial emboli:

The majority of these emboli occur in patients with significant underlying cardiac disease; the severity of the patient’s underlying cardiac condition may increase the risk of surgery, and limit the options available for restoring blood flow to the ischemic extremity.

Potential sources of emboli from the heart include left ventricular thrombus formation following myocardial infarction, and atrial thrombus in patients with atrial fibrillation. Up to 75 percent of patients with emboli to the lower extremities have a history of recent myocardial infarction or atrial fibrillation.

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