Representative Cases For Patients Injured By Mistakes During Surgery
A.O. v. Edgewater Medical Center – $9,346,663 jury verdict for the estate of a 42 year-old man who died because of an unnecessary cardiac catheterization performed negligently. The jury’s award included $8,350,000 for loss of society.
Estate of K.S. v. Methodist Medical Center of Illinois et al. – $5,008,921.72 jury verdict for the estate of a 36 year old woman who hemorrhaged to death in an operating room after a DaVinci robotic hysterectomy surgery. The jury found the gynecologist and the anesthesiologist negligently caused the death. She is survived by three children and her husband from whom she separated 10 months earlier. The previous high wrongful death verdict in Tazewell County where this case was tried was $970,000.
A.T., a minor v. a Chicago suburban hospital – $13,000,000 settlement for a 3 year old girl who received brain injuries as a result of negligent care during an open heart surgery. The girl was undergoing treatment to relieve aortic stenosis. When she was on heart-lung bypass, she became ischemic. The perfusionists wanted to immediately transfuse her with packed red blood cells but the blood units for this child were not in the OR refrigerator as they should have been. It took more than thirty minutes for the blood to be delivered to the OR and as a result, the girl suffered hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. The hospital paid $12,000,000 and the perfusion contracting company paid its $1,000,000 policy limits.
S.D., a minor v. Advocate Christ Hospital and Medical Center – $9,900,000 settlement for a 7 year old boy who suffered brain injuries when he arrested due to post-surgical neglect.
H.P. v. Hermann – $9,350,000 settlement for a 42 year-old man who suffered a brain injury during surgery to remove a brain tumor (meningioma).
M.R. v. ASSH – $8,000,000 settlement for the surviving husband and adult children of a 52 year old woman who died when an anesthesiologist was unable to intubate her before an elective surgery. During trial preparations, the anesthesiologist admitted that he created an inaccurate and untrue anesthesia record of the events. He was later removed from the hospital staff as a result of that testimony.
I.S. v. Fajardo – Represented an infant who suffered brain damage as the result of anesthesiology malpractice. The child was rendered comatose by the malpractice, and he survived on a ventilator for seven years. Case settled for $6,200,000, a record malpractice settlement in Illinois in 1985.
