We’ve seen the controversial Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT) in movies and in pop culture.
The procedure is also known as electroshock therapy.
Tonight that therapy has real life implications in Palm Beach County.
A family sued the doctor who administrated that therapy, Dr. Praturi Sharma, for tens of millions of dollars, claiming he ruined their lives.
Was the doctor really to blame, however?
After deliberating for about 4 hours Wednesday, that jury said no.
“We never cause brain damage, we get them to get better,” Dr. Sharma says.
Hugging his attorneys outside of a Palm Beach County courthouse today, Dr. Sharma says he did nothing wrong when he administered electro-convulsive therapy to Dr. Shaul Dadi in 2010.
“All these years of my experience, I've been doing ECT for many years, so are other people doing it,” Dr. Sharma says. “I have not seen one single patient with brain damage”
But the attorneys for Dr. Dadi beg to differ.
The controversial therapy involves shooting electronic current through a patient's brain.
It's used to treat depression and other mental health conditions.
But Dr. Dadi's attorneys say in his case it left him barely functioning- and unable to communicate with his family or even continue working.
“We are convinced that the method in which they are doing electroshock therapy at the Fair Oaks Hospital with Dr. Sharma is still clearly wrong and beneath the standard of care,” attorney Jeffrey Fenster says.
Dr. Dadi's attorneys were seeking up to $75 million dollars - but the jury Wednesday found Dr. Sharma did nothing wrong.
“We think there was a terrible injustice, a prominent physician did not receive justice today,” Fenster says.
He says an appeal may be in the works.
“The fact is that according to the latest studies people that receive the most serious the most serious bilateral electric shock suffer from profound memory loss,” Fenster says.
After the verdict we asked Dr. Sharma if he stood by his work.
“It is a very safe technique, because you have all these patients who have ECT - they're being monitored, they're under anesthesia, they're under oxygen,” he says.
The doctor says now that he's been exonerated, he's looking forward to getting back to work - and continuing his therapy - as soon as possible.
