On April 20, 2017, plaintiff Tammy Whitehead underwent a lumpectomy after having been diagnosed with cancer of the right breast two months earlier. The procedure included a breast reconstruction, which was performed by Dr. Brian Dickinson, a cosmetic and reconstructive surgeon. It was later determined that a mastectomy of the right breast was required, and the procedure was performed on May 11, 2017. The surgery was once again followed by a breast reconstruction by Dickinson. On July 30, 2017, Whitehead was admitted to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, in Newport Beach, with an infection of the right breast. Dickinson brought Whitehead back to surgery with the intent of removing all foreign bodies from the right breast to allow the infection to resolve. However, a foreign body was not identified or removed at that time. The right breast infection persisted after the surgery, so Dickinson eventually returned Whitehead to surgery a fourth time, on Aug. 31, 2017, at which time a retained titanium surgical clip was identified and removed. Whitehead sued Dickinson and a breast surgical oncology specialist involved in her care, Dr. Melvin Silverstein. Whitehead alleged that Dickinson failed to remove the surgical clip during one of the first two surgeries and that the doctors failed to timely identify and remove the retained titanium surgical clip. Whitehead also alleged that the doctors’ failures constituted medical malpractice. Silverstein was ultimately let out of the case on a motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that the titanium surgical clip was left in the right breast at the time of one of the first two surgeries performed by Dickinson. Counsel also contended that Dickinson breached the standard of care by failing to identify and remove the retained titanium surgical clip during the multiple surgeries before Aug. 31, 2017, and that the retained clip was the reason the infection developed and/or failed to resolve prior to Aug. 31, 2017. Dickinson’s counsel argued that Dickinson did not breach the standard of care. Counsel contended that the titanium surgical clip was designed to be retained within the body and that there was no basis for the position that the clip caused the infection to develop or persist. Counsel also contended that because Dickinson did not identify the titanium clip during his surgeries prior to Aug. 31, 2017, Dickinson was deprived of the opportunity to remove it in an effort to ameliorate the infection. The defense’s plastic and reconstructive surgery expert opined that Dickinson complied with the standard of care by removing the surgical clip the first time that he saw it upon a visual inspection after washing out of the wound. The expert also opined that it would be below the standard of care to physically explore the wound, looking for foreign objects, as that would allow the infection to spread., Whitehead’s right breast infection healed uneventfully after the procedure on Aug. 31, 2017. However, no breast reconstruction was performed at that time. Whitehead’s medical expenses were covered by private health insurance. As a result, her claim for damages was primarily in the form of noneconomic damages for her past and future pain and suffering as a result of the multiple surgeries and the lost opportunity for a breast reconstruction.