T. v. LaGrange Memorial Hospital

Medical Malpractice: A 36-year-old man became paralyzed on his left side as a result of a stroke. His family physician and emergency room doctor were found to be negligent in failing to diagnose subacute bacterial endocarditis. This is the largest medical negligence verdict in Illinois history and the largest in the U.S. in 1991 according to the National Law Journal. This verdict was reduced $2,238,141.00 for economic damages awarded above the present cash value of lost earnings and future attendant care needs found in the evidence or requested by plaintiff at trial. At the time this case was the largest verdict ever affirmed on appeal in Illinois.

JURY VERDICT: $18,500,000.00

Offer: $200,000.00

Affirmed on Appeal 92-2262 268 Ill.App.3d 1051, 645 N.E.2d 284 (1994).

R. v. Trinity Hospital

This case involved a pregnant mother who presented to Trinity Hospital shortly after midnight on January 1, 1995, with an elevated systolic blood pressure, edema and protein in her urine. The nurses as well as the physician, Dr. Everett A. White, failed to diagnose preeclampsia according to plaintiffs’ experts. At the time of her presentation to Trinity, the plaintiff’s mother was 37 weeks pregnant and in labor. She labored from approximately midnight on

January 1st until 12:45 p.m. when she had an eclamptic seizure. Her child, R., was delivered at 1:19 p.m. with very low APGARS and a cord blood gas indicating she suffered from hypoxia and ischemia. She remained depressed for approximately thirty-six more minutes due to the failure to adequately resuscitate her. As a result, R. sustained brain damage and is currently institutionalized.

The defendants denied that they were negligent, denied that R.’s mother was preeclamptic and instead have suggested she suffered a seizure as a result of an enterovirus which they claimed was found in the placenta. The defense alleged this enterovirus attacks newborns and, in fact, was responsible for aseptic meningitis evidenced by elevated white blood cell count in the cerebral spinal fluid of R. as well as abnormalities in the placenta. It was the defendants’ position that this enterovirus was the sole proximate cause of R.’s problem and was untreatable.

K. vs. Lutheran General Hospital, et al

Minor Plaintiff was born with a heart that was not formed properly. Doctors picked up an irregular heart beat prior to her birth. Plaintiff alleges Defendant doctors failed to properly admit her into the hospital and failed to properly monitor her resulting in her death at approximately 8 months of age.

D.P. v. Sucha Singh, et al.

Founding partner, Joseph A. Power Jr., along with Attorneys James Power and Kurt Ensign, secured a $17.5 million recovery for the victim of a bike accident who suffered amputation and other serious injuries as a result of trucker negligence. The case will go down as the largest bike accident recovery in Illinois history to date.

Medical Malpractice/Brain Injury: Doctors at Christ Hospital Medical Center did not monitor M.’s anticoagulant treatment closely enough during rehabilitation treatment in 1998. She suffered a heart attack, which left her permanently brain damaged.

On March 27, 1997, 8 month old K. had a malfunction of his ventricular shunt in place since one month of age for congenital hydrocephalus. He had undergone shunt revision in January. The revision was performed by a resident despite the family’s request for an attending neurosurgical physician. Upon surgical intervention in March, a portion of the shunt was found to have broken away and lodged in the frontal lobe. The shunt failure was attributed by Plaintiff to an improper surgical technique resulting in a cut and separation of the shunt. The child suffered severe brain damage as a result.

On August 30, 2019, plaintiff arrived at the undisclosed defendant’s hospital with complaints of severe stomach pain. Plaintiff entered the hospital on July 30 th at approximately 9:02 am. Throughout the day the plaintiff had complaints of severe abdominal pain; chills needing a blanket, increasing tachycardia and an abnormal abdominal CT scan that needed further investigation. Plaintiff was noted to be constantly moaning and in extreme pain. On July 31 st at 3:30 pm, plaintiff was first seen by the gastroenterology department. On July 31 st at 5:15 pm, the plaintiff was evaluated by a surgeon who diagnosed the plaintiff as being septic. The first antibiotics the plaintiff received was on July 31 st at 6:39 pm, 33 hours from when plaintiff entered the emergency department. Emergency abdominal surgery was performed at which time Strep A was found in the plaintiff’s stomach and his stomach was necrosed. The plaintiff subsequently developed ischemia in his right lower extremity due to septic shock. The Plaintiff alleges that the defendants failed to timely diagnose and treat a rare progressing infection in the Plaintiff from 9:03 am on July 30 th until 5:45 pm on July 31 st when he was first diagnosed. The plaintiff further alleges that the defendants failed to timely diagnose and treat an acute abdomen. This $17 million dollar result is the highest reported settlement or verdict in Winnebago County for a personal injury case.

A 36-year-old female passenger who suffered multiple fractures and ultimately required the amputation of her left leg after a commercial airplane crash.

S. v. HMD Trucking, Inc., et al.

The cause involved the wrongful death of R.S., who was a 47 year old auto worker, who was returning home from work on the evening of October 16, 2004, when he was killed while operating his motor vehicle southbound along Indiana’s I-465 within the city limits of Indianapolis, Indiana. A tractor-trailer operated by Tadeusz Strojny was also traveling in the middle lane of the southbound traffic along I- 465. Mr. Strojny’s tractor-trailer struck Mr. Studer’s vehicle from behind, propelling and pinning it along the I- 465’s median wall. Ronald Studer was unable to escape his vehicle and died as a result of his injuries.

Tadeusz Strojny was employed as a truck driver by Defendant, Right Express, Inc. d/b/a E.R.A. Transportation, Inc. The tractor was owned by Defendant, HMD Trucking, Inc., for whom Mr. Strojny was driving. He was pulling a trailer owned by Defendant, FAF, Inc. with an insignia of Forward Air, Inc. stenciled on the side of the vehicle.

Mr. Strojny was a Polish born individual who is not fluent in the English language. On the date of this occurrence Mr. Strojny had picked up the tractor-trailer at the Forward Air depot in Chicago, Illinois and was taking it to Columbus, Ohio.

Mom’s active phase of labor was less than two hours when Dr. Thorpe placed a vacuum on the baby’s head in an effort to extricate him without maternal or fetal threat. The initial cup used was a Kiwi Pro Cup, which is designed for occiput anterior positioning, however the fetal head position was occiput posterior. The cup popped-off and Dr. Thorpe next applied a Kiwi Omni cup which also popped-off after traction. The cups were placed at 0 to +1 station (mid-pelvis) and were not properly positioned at the flexion point. Because of vacuum use, the baby suffered a focal arterial stroke due to occlusion of blood flow in the right middle cerebral artery. The minor plaintiff is disabled and has permanent and severe injuries.