5/30/2023 – Following a two-week long trial, a Winnebago County jury has returned a unanimous verdict in favor of Rapoport Sims Perry & VanOverloop client in the amount of $4,000,000.00 for the wrongful death of a 51-year-old woman due to medical malpractice.
The verdict is the second-largest medical malpractice wrongful death verdict ever in Winnebago County.
Trial attorney Melanie J. VanOverloop of Rapoport Sims Perry & VanOverloop filed the lawsuit on behalf of the woman’s family and estate and represented them at trial.
The case involved a pain management clinic, including two physicians and a nurse practitioner, whom the plaintiff alleged caused a cerebrospinal fluid leak while implanting an intrathecal pain pump, and then failed to manage the cerebrospinal fluid leak appropriately post-operatively, resulting in their patient’s death.
The lawsuit alleged that the woman should have been promptly referred to a neurosurgeon to stop the cerebrospinal fluid leak, but the defendants failed to make a timely referral. This allowed her symptoms to become increasingly severe as she developed intracranial hypotension, with inadequate cerebrospinal fluid in and around her brain, leading to a fatal stroke.
After hearing all of the evidence and argument, the jury found in favor of the plaintiff and against all four defendants.
The jury awarded $1 million for conscious pain and suffering, $2 million for loss of society, and $1 million for grief, sorrow, and mental suffering.
