Lawsuit Information Center Blog
I think sample settlements and verdicts are a useful tool in conjunction with other tools to help victims better understand at least the range of values in a medical malpractice case. Clearly, no two cases are the same and you cannot summarizes a case in a paragraph. Sometimes, I have tried or settled cases where there is no way I could summarize the case in a way that would explain why the plaintiff won or why the verdict was as high or low as it was. Said differently, reading these is important and education in understanding the value of medical malpractice claims in Illinois but you can only learn so much from these. If you have what appears to be an exactly identical case, the results could be very different. All of these verdicts are from 2014 to 2020. Illinois is a big state. A lot of cases go to trial here.
YEAR / STATE
CASE / INJURY SUMMARY
RESULT
2020 – Illinois
30-year-old woman presented to the hospital with chest pain. She diagnosed with microscopic hematuria based on a urine test and sent her home with medication. Five days later, the chest pain and tachycardia came back and she was given different medication without further testing. Nineteen days later she died of a rare blood clot disorder (thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura). Her estate alleged that both medical providers failed to order several tests that would have diagnosed her condition early enough to prevent her death.
$2,375,000 Settlement
2020 – Illinois
Pain management doctor was accused of negligently administering a steroid injection in a patient’s neck. The injection punctured the dural and ultimately caused the patient’s death. The defense argued that there was no evidence of causation.
$734,000 Verdict
2020 – Illinois
Plaintiff suffered rhabdomyolysis (a rare condition that causes muscle breakdown) from interaction between 2 different cholesterol drugs. She sued the doctor for negligent prescribing and Walgreens for negligently dispensing.
$600,906 Verdict
2019 – Illinois
Decedent, female in her early 70s, went to ER with symptoms of pneumonia. Radiologist noted a potentially cancerous “abnormality” on the chest x-ray, but no evidence of pneumonia so she was sent home. A year later she was diagnosed with lung cancer, but by then it was already terminal and she died soon after. Her estate sued the doctors for failing to diagnose her cancer at the ER visit.
$12,000,000 Verdict
2018 – Illinois
Woman came to the hospital at 37 weeks pregnant after her water broke. Fetal heart strips showing warning signs, but her OB/GYN sent her home after only talking to her on the phone. 4 days later she was rushed back for an emergency C-section. Her son suffered oxygen deprivation and was diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy.
$48,195,000 Settlement
2017 – Illinois
A woman underwent cataract surgery. She suffered a left eye injury when it leaked after the hospital staff removed her stitches. The woman sued her ophthalmologist for prematurely removing her stitches. The ophthalmologist admitted negligence but denied the extent of the injury.
$800,000 Verdict
2016 – Illinois
A 36-year-old woman died of cardiac arrest after surgeon negligently cut an artery during a hysterectomy procedure. Warning signs of internal bleeding were not discovered until it was too late.
$5,008,921 Verdict
2014 – Illinois
A 35-year-old woman is recovering from a tracheostomy procedure. A nurse dislodged her trachea tube while giving her a bath, causing acidosis, brain damage, and cardiac arrest. The patient later died as a result of the botched bed-bath.
$3,000,000 Settlement
2014 – Illinois
Patient suffers a fatal pulmonary embolism shortly after undergoing a hysterectomy procedure. Her family sues for wrongful death alleging the doctors failed to recognize the symptoms of the blood clot and take preventive measure. The defense argued that the decedent made the blood clot more likely by refusing a blood transfusion on religious grounds.