A $450,000 settlement in a Suffolk County medical malpractice action that alleged that the defendant vascular surgeon departed from accepted practice in creating an arteriovenous fistula in the plaintiff’s arm for dialysis access.   More specifically, it was alleged that the surgeon failed to diagnose a pseudoaneurysm in the area where the fistula was created that obstructed blood flow to the plaintiff’s hand, resulting in neurologic damage.   It was also alleged that the surgeon departed from accepted practice by increasing the plaintiff’s risk to develop a pseudoaneurysm by performing multiple aggressive procedures to try to accelerate the maturation of the fistula.  An arteriovenous fistula is an abnormal connection between an artery and a vein in which blood flows directly from an artery into a vein.  They are often surgically created for dialysis access.