Bruce A. Sutphin, Esq.

Bruce A. Sutphin began his legal career performing medical negligence defense work and representation of a local community hospital in 1984. He moved to representing plaintiffs in medical negligence and other personal injury litigation in 1994 with a Capital Region law firm, working primarily on birth injury litigation as well as motor vehicle negligence, labor law cases, and products’ liability matters. Bruce stayed with that firm and became a partner until its dissolution in 2018. He has been Of counsel with LaFave, Wein & Frament since February 2018.

Bruce has a background in scientific research having graduated from the University of Connecticut, BS in Zoology and Chemistry and UCONN’s graduate program in Biochemistry.

Prior to entering the law practice, he spent 15 months as a diener, assisting the medical examiner of Middlesex County, Connecticut, and her associate pathologists with the performance of post mortem examinations (autopsies). He has also worked in the clinical/histology laboratory.

From there, Bruce went to work as a Research Associate in Transplantation and Surgery at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut. He performed research in tissue and organ preservation and transplantation, including kidney, liver, heart and pancreas transplantation. I assisted surgeons in the removal of cadaveric kidneys, livers and hearts, pre-transplant preservation, and implantation of donor kidneys. Bruce attended law school at night while working full-time in research. He received his Juris Doctorate from the UCONN School of Law, graduating in three and a half years in the top ten percent of his class.

Bruce appreciates the interaction of law, medicine, science and mechanics in plaintiff’s medical negligence, products liability, and other personal injury cases. He relates with clients, understanding their medical issues and assisting them through the legal process.

Legal and Academic Activity

• Admitted to practice in Connecticut (1983)
• Admitted to practice in New York (1985) and in the Northern District of New York (1985)
• Member, American Association for Justice (AAJ)
• Member, Birth Trauma Litigation Group
• Past member, Medical Negligence Information Exchange Group

Medical Research Activity

• Member, Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Honor Society
• Past member, Research Committee at Hartford Hospital
• Chairman, Hartford Hospital Employees Council
• Past member, United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)
• Past member, North American Transplant Coordinators Organization
• Past member, Society for Cryobiology
• Past non-physician affiliate, Transplantation Society and the American College of Surgeons
• Presenter, International Meeting of the Society of Transplantation Surgeons in Boston, Mass.
• Provided testimony Connecticut Legislative Committee on the definition of brain death

In his free time, Bruce enjoys traveling with his wife, children (and their spouses), and nine grandchildren; and spending time with his family’s three dogs and two cats. He also has an interest in sports cars, working and driving them, reading, doing jigsaw puzzles and constructing models. Bruce has coached youth travel soccer from under 8 to the under 19 age groups in Clifton Park and coached Little League Baseball in Clifton Park and East Hartford, Conn.

Bruce has been published in peer reviewed scientific literature:

Fibrin Formation in Plasma Perfusates during Kidney perfusion; Schweizer RT, Sutphin BA, Bartus SA, Jour. Surg. Res., 24:57.2, 1978.

Reversal of Renal Vasospasm by Venous Perfusion; Sutphin BA, Schweizer RT, Bartus SA, Transplantation Proceedings, 13(lPt2), 702-706, 1981.

Biliary Reconstruction Methods for Liver Transplantation; Schweizer RT, Sutphin BA, Bartus SA, Transplantation Proceedings, 13(lPt2), 842-844, 1981.

In Situ Cadaver Kidney Perfusion: Experimental and Clinical Studies; Schweizer RT, Sutphin BA, Bartus SA, Transplantation, 32:2, 482-487, 1981

Effect of Different Magnesium Levels in Kidney Preservation Perfusate; Schweizer RT, Sutphin BA, Transplantation, 34:4, 225-228, 1982.

Kidney Preservation Failure Using Combined Collins’ Solution and Plasma Perfusion; Schweizer RT, Sutphin BA, Transplantation, July; 36(1), 24-6, 1983.

Duct Management of Segmental Pancreatic Allografts in Pigs; Schweizer RT, Sutphin BA, Pfau PF, Calaluce RD, Berman MM, Transplantation Proceedings, 16(3), June, 1984, 759-66.

Experimental Segmental Pancreatic Allotransplantation: Efficacy of Aprotinin in Organ