On Jan. 11, 2012, plaintiff Sheila Weldon, 66, a retired hairdresser, underwent spinal surgery on the L5-S1 level to address right-sided lateral recess stenosis and foraminal stenosis. The procedure was performed by Dr. Brian Gantwerker, a neurosurgeon. After the surgery, Weldon’s lower back pain and radicular symptoms briefly improved, but then deteriorated again. A repeat MRI study was performed on March 30, 2012, and it revealed findings at the L5-S1 level that were quite similar to those seen on pre-operative imaging. As a result, Gantwerker returned Weldon to surgery on April 20, 2012, and specifically commented that the L5-S1 disc space did not appear to have been previously addressed surgically. Gantwerker then proceeded to decompress the lateral recess and foramen, and informed Weldon, post-operatively, that he must have operated at the wrong level in the previous surgery on January 2012. Weldon’s lower back pain and radicular symptoms briefly improved after the surgery on April 20, 2012, but then deteriorated again. A subsequent MRI of the lumbar spine on Aug. 10, 2012 again appeared to be similar to the pre-operative imaging. However, the same imaging confirmed that the only level to have been operated on was the L5-S1 level. Weldon allegedly continued to suffer from lower back pain and radicular symptoms for three years. She ultimately underwent a third surgery, which was performed by another spinal surgeon at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center on June 17, 2015, to decompress the right-sided lateral recess and foramen at the L5-S1 level. Weldon reported immediate and dramatic improvement in her symptoms following that surgery and ever since. Weldon brought a claim against Gantwerker. Weldon alleged that Gantwerker failed to properly performed the first two spinal surgeries and that this failure constituted medical malpractice. The matter proceeded to arbitration. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that Gantwerker had failed to properly decompress the disc space at L5-S1 and, specifically, the right, lateral recess and foramen in either of the two surgeries he performed. Counsel argued that while that failure could perhaps be forgiven on the first surgery, it was below the standard of care to not have been markedly more aggressive at the time of the second surgery, which alleged failed to decompress the disc space at all. Plaintiff’s counsel agree that the imaging studies confirmed that Gantwerker had performed both of his surgeries at L5-S1 level, but showed that Gantwerker simply had failed to remove enough disc material, ligament and bone to decompress the nerves at that level. Thus, counsel contended that it was not until June 17, 2015, that Weldon received the surgery and relief that should have been provided to her in early 2012. Defense counsel contended that Gantwerker performed both of his surgeries in a careful and conservative manner and that Gantwerker had freed up the L5 and S1 nerves at the time of each surgery. Counsel argued that there is no guarantee that the nerves would remain free post-operatively, and they did not, but that there are definite risks of destabilizing the spine by being too aggressive in those surgeries. Thus, defense counsel contended that Weldon became pain free after her final surgery, not because the “correct” procedure had been finally performed, but, rather, because the L5 disc had collapsed onto the S1 disc and had auto-fused since 2012, essentially giving Weldon the benefit of a fusion. The surgery performed in June 2015 was the same surgery performed in April 2012, just more aggressive. Accordingly, defense counsel argued that without the aggravating factor of motion, the same surgery performed by Gantwerker was allowed to produce a much better subjective result., Weldon claimed that she suffered terrible lower back pain and radicular symptoms from early 2012 until the end of June 2015. She claimed the severe back pain radiated into both legs for the three years preceding the June 2015 surgery, interfering with all activities of daily living and robbing her of the enjoyment of three years of her remaining life expectancy. However, Weldon acknowledged that following the third surgery to decompress the right-sided lateral recess and foramen at the L5-S1 level, which was performed by a different surgeon and UCSF Medical Center on June 17, 2015, she had immediate and dramatic improvement in her symptoms and ever since. Thus, Weldon sought recovery of $20,000 in past medical costs, based on a Medi-Cal lien, and an unspecified amount of damages for her pain and suffering.