A Bronx jury recently awarded $20 million to a man who was paralyzed by an apparent medical error in 2004. The 53-year-old man was treated at Montefiore Medical Center for back pain. Duffy & Duffy lawyer Ed Bithorn, whose firm represented the victim, says doctors realized too late that he had a spinal abscess. The infection left the patient paralyzed from the chest down. Despite the verdict's size, plaintiffs' lawyers are hailing it as proof that the state's medical malpractice system is working well. "It is easy to portray us trial attorneys as bogeymen and call for tort reform [to cut health care costs]," says Mr. Bithorn. "But this settlement will enable this man to leave the nursing home where he has been for years and return to his family." One possible reform calls for having such cases adjudicated and settled outside of the jury system. Trial lawyers oppose that.