500+
Victims Represented
$297M+
Total Recovery
6 Years
Of Stonewalling Overcome
200+
Jury Trials — Eric's Career
The Setup: A Surgeon Who Fled, an Insurer That Stayed
Dr. Abubakar Atiq Durrani performed hundreds of spinal surgeries across Ohio and Kentucky. Many of those surgeries, according to medical experts and the patients themselves, were unnecessary — performed on patients who did not need them, using experimental techniques, and leaving behind catastrophic, permanent injuries.
When criminal charges mounted, Durrani fled to Pakistan in 2013. He has never returned to face justice. But he left behind something else: a malpractice insurance policy with MedPro Group, one of the largest medical liability insurers in the United States.
What followed was a masterclass in institutional stonewalling — and in how a determined attorney can break it.
How the Case Unfolded
2010–2013
The Surgeries Begin
Dr. Abubakar Atiq Durrani performed hundreds of spinal surgeries at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Christ Hospital in Ohio. Patients reported catastrophic outcomes — paralysis, permanent nerve damage, and infections — from procedures many experts later concluded were medically unnecessary.
2013
Durrani Flees to Pakistan
Facing mounting criminal charges and civil lawsuits, Durrani fled the United States to Pakistan in 2013, leaving behind hundreds of patients with no recourse and a malpractice insurer — MedPro Group — that immediately shifted into damage-control mode.
2013–2016
MedPro's Stonewall Begins
MedPro Group, one of the largest medical malpractice insurers in the country, deployed a systematic delay-and-deny strategy. Claims were met with procedural objections, discovery was obstructed, and victims were pressured into low-ball settlements. The insurer bet that victims — many of them elderly, disabled, or financially devastated by their injuries — would give up.
2015–2018
Eric Deters Enters the Fight
Eric Deters, already representing dozens of Durrani victims, identified the pattern: MedPro was not evaluating claims on their merits. They were running a clock. Eric began coordinating across cases, sharing discovery, and building a unified evidentiary record that made individual stonewalling far more costly for the insurer.
2017–2019
The Pressure Breaks
With coordinated litigation, media exposure, and Eric's sworn affidavit documenting the systemic nature of the harm, MedPro's position became untenable. Settlements accelerated. Victims who had been waiting years began receiving compensation. The total recovery across Durrani cases exceeded $297 million.
2019–Present
The Ongoing Fight
Durrani remains in Pakistan, beyond the reach of U.S. criminal extradition. Eric continues to pursue civil remedies for remaining victims and has made the Durrani case a national model for how to fight institutional cover-ups in medical malpractice.
MedPro's Playbook: Five Stonewalling Tactics
Insurance companies don't deny claims outright — they make the process so expensive, slow, and demoralizing that victims give up. Here is exactly how MedPro did it, and how Eric countered each move.
Delay Through Discovery Obstruction
MedPro routinely objected to discovery requests, demanded extensions, and produced incomplete records — forcing victims' attorneys to spend months litigating procedural disputes rather than the merits of the case.
Low-Ball Settlement Pressure
Victims were approached early with settlement offers far below the value of their injuries. Many, facing mounting medical bills and unable to afford prolonged litigation, accepted. MedPro counted on financial attrition.
Isolating Individual Plaintiffs
By treating each case as a standalone matter, MedPro prevented victims from seeing the full scope of Durrani's conduct. Eric's strategy of coordinating across cases broke this isolation and revealed the systemic pattern.
Attacking Credibility
Victims were subjected to aggressive depositions designed to undermine their accounts. Medical records were selectively presented to suggest outcomes were within normal surgical risk — ignoring the volume of similar adverse outcomes.
Exploiting Durrani's Absence
With Durrani in Pakistan, MedPro argued that key facts could not be established without his testimony. Eric countered by building the case through hospital records, expert witnesses, and the testimony of other medical staff.
How Eric Broke Through
Eric's core insight was that MedPro's strategy depended on isolation. As long as each victim was fighting a separate battle, the insurer could manage costs and control the narrative. The moment victims were coordinated, the calculus changed.
Eric built a shared evidentiary record across dozens of cases — hospital records, expert witness reports, deposition transcripts, and internal communications. When MedPro obstructed discovery in one case, that obstruction became evidence in the next.
He also took the fight public. Media coverage of the Durrani case — including national appearances on Inside Edition, Fox News, and CNN — created reputational pressure that pure litigation could not. MedPro was no longer just managing a legal liability. They were managing a public relations crisis.
The combination of coordinated litigation, media exposure, and Eric's sworn affidavit documenting the systemic nature of the harm forced MedPro to the table. Settlements accelerated. The total recovery across Durrani cases exceeded $297 million.
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Were You a Victim of Medical Negligence?
Eric Deters has spent 30+ years fighting for victims that insurance companies and hospitals tried to silence. If you believe you were harmed by a negligent doctor or a cover-up, let Eric review your case — confidentially and at no cost.