Settlement
Result: $9.75 Million — Medical Malpractice, Paralysis
Joseph A. Power Jr.
G. v. Evanston Northwestern Healthcare
Plaintiff, a former professor at Loyola University of Chicago, on April 20, 1999, went into Evanston Hospital for a decompressive laminectomy for severe cervical stenosis. Prior to the surgery he ambulated with a cane. On April 20th, there was an attempted C6 vertebrectomy for decompression of the spinal cord at the C5-6 level and the C6-7 level.
Plaintiffs’ expert contended osteophytes left behind created internal stress to the spinal cord which affected the blood flow to the cord and its function. The large osteophytes left behind at C5 on the right side tethered the cord at the exit point as well as at C6-C7 leaving persistent compression and quadriparesis. The defense experts claimed it was within the standard of care to leave the osteophytes because removing them often leads to paralysis with someone with a severe stenosis as the plaintiff had.