Former Chargers quarterback Tyrod Taylor has settled his lawsuit against an ex-team doctor in which the player alleged he suffered a punctured lung due to medical malpractice.
According to a minute order filed Wednesday by the clerk for Torrance Superior Court Judge Alan B. Honeycutt, the judge had received an email notice of settlement between Taylor and Dr. David S. Gazzaniga and the Newport Orthopedic Institute, although an official document stating so had not yet been transmitted.
No terms of the accord were divulged. The 36-year-old Taylor signed with the Green Bay Packers earlier this month to be the primary backup for quarterback Jordan Love.
Taylor alleged that Gazzaniga used a higher volume of an anesthetic… on Sept. 20, 2020, compared to the prior two injections he previously administered and that the physician used a different method of administration than he had previously used for the prior two injection procedures on Sept. 17 and 18, 2020.
Gazzaniga admitted in his deposition that there was no discussion about the risks of the Sept. 20 injections and that he never used a written informed consent for the procedures he performed on Taylor, according to Taylor’s attorney’s court papers.
Taylor’s medical battery claim alleged that Gazzaniga did not get permission for The Sept. 20 procedure and because the procedure was “substantially different than the injection procedures previously administered to Taylor.”
The suit maintained that Taylor’s injury caused him to lose his starting job to then-rookie quarterback Justin Herbert, who was quarterback for the Chargers’ last 15 games of 2020.
But in their court papers, Gazzaniga’s attorneys stated that Taylor testified in a deposition that he chose to get the injection in order to improve his performance. According to the doctor’s lawyers, Taylor testified, “I got the pain — I got the injection — I chose to get the injection to, like I said earlier, to eliminate the mental hurdle of playing through a game with an injury.”
Taylor cannot prove a medical battery claim when his own deposition statement says he wanted the injection in order to improve his performance, according to the Gazzaniga lawyers’ court papers.