Whole-body MRI provider Prenuvo seeks to limit damages in high-profile malpractice case
A plaintiff attorney is offering an update on a high-profile, radiology-related court case one year after initiating the dispute.
Sean Clifford and his legal representatives first filed the lawsuit Sept. 24, 2024, in the New York State Supreme Court. They contend a radiologist failed to spot signs of a forthcoming stroke after the then-37-year-old underwent a $2,500 elective whole-body MRI at a New York City Prenuvo location.
According to court records, attorneys for the Redwood City, California-based company have sought to compel arbitration in the case, rather than letting a New York court decide the outcome. However, those efforts have failed thus far, with Prenuvo now attempting to have California laws apply in the New York case, with the former carrying a cap on malpractice damages.
“This pattern shows that Prenuvo is trying every possible procedural angle to limit plaintiffs’ recovery,” attorney Neal Bhushan, with Jacob Fuchsberg Law Firm in New York, told Radiology Business by email on Thursday. “We remain confident, however, that the case will proceed in New York County Supreme Court under New York law and look forward to moving ahead with depositions,” he added, estimating this should start sometime in the fall.
Prenuvo did not immediately respond to an email inquiry Friday and previously stated it does not comment on pending litigation. In court filings, the radiology group has denied the allegations while admitting that Clifford underwent a whole-body MRI scan at Prenuvo on or about July 15, 2023.
“Upon information and belief, the injuries sustained by the plaintiff(s) were not as the result of any culpable conduct of the defendants…,” Prenuvo attorneys wrote in a November 2024 court filing. “The alleged cause of action alleging medical practice under the laws of the state of California fails to state a cause of action in that it does not contain any allegations of injury to the plaintiff(s) for which the answering defendant(s) can be held liable,” they added later.
According to court records, Prenuvo attorneys officially withdrew their motion to compel arbitration on Sept. 5. Plaintiff attorney Bhushan said his side had “vigorously opposed” settling the matter this way and claimed Prenuvo retracted the motion “because they knew they would lose.”
Attorneys for the radiology group subsequently filed documents on Sept. 16, seeking to have the Golden State's laws apply in the case.
“Prenuvo is a California based and incorporated company, doing business in New York and several other states. “Prenuvo’s nexus to California is clear,” wrote attorney Joy Woda Schneider, with Kerley, Walsh Matera & Cinquemani. “It is respectfully submitted that the contract executed by Mr. Clifford contains a ‘choice of law clause,’ which requires that the Patient Agreement and Consent be addressed under California Law.”
Bhushan, meanwhile, filed a response on Sept. 25 in opposition to the move, contending it should be “denied because this lawsuit arises entirely from events in New York.”
The original complaint
As stated in the original complaint, Sean Clifford lived in Manhattan at the time of the incident. Radiologist William A. Weiner, MD, an independent contractor with Nexray Medical Imaging, interpreted the images, allegedly failing to denote potential warning signs of the patient’s impending medical troubles.
Clifford later suffered a “catastrophic” stroke on March 7—almost 8 months after the MRI—while away on a business trip in Miami. Attorneys obtained copies of Clifford’s images and contend that Weiner missed signs of the forthcoming incident including “abrupt focal 60% narrowing and irregularity of the proximal right middle cerebral artery.” That’s according to a third-party neurologist hired by the family.
Bhushan and his client offered the Prenuvo report as Exhibit 1 in the complaint. In it, Weiner noted no evidence of proximal intracranial arterial aneurysm nor small vessel ischemia. However, the plaintiffs claim the report “failed to document crucial, life-saving medical information.” Clifford’s cerebral and cerebellar vasculature were “incorrectly described as normal,” the suit contends. Plus, there were “worrisome areas of arterial stenosis, especially in the right middle cerebral artery,” where he later experienced an ischemic infarction.
“This stenotic vessel could have been treated with targeted stenting or other minimally invasive measures, thereby eliminating and preventing the catastrophic stroke that plaintiff Sean Clifford suffered on March 7, 2024,” the complaint states.
Since the incident, he has suffered left hand and leg paralysis, weakness on his left side affecting movement and motor function, impaired vision, anxiety, depression and chronic headaches, among other concerns.
Founded in 2018, Prenuvo recently raised over $120 million in a Series B financing round, with previous support coming from model Cindy Crawford, Nest founder Tony Fadell, 23&Me CEO Anne Wojcicki, and billionaire scientist Timothy A. Springer, PhD. It also has scored celebrity endorsements from Kim Kardashian and others and has pursued expansion amid growing interest. It currently has about 24 locations with another 16 labeled as coming soon.
Other provider groups have entered the elective whole-body MRI space in recent years including SimonMed Imaging and Rayus Radiology, with the results of this case potentially having implications for this burgeoning business model.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story inaccurately said Prenuvo is trying to move the case to California, when it is only seeking to have California laws apply in the New York-based case. Radiology Business regrets the error.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.