5/30/2023 – Following a two-week long trial, a Winnebago County jury has returned a unanimous verdict in favor of Rapoport Weisberg Sims & 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 attorneys Joshua L. Weisberg and Melanie J. VanOverloop of Rapoport Weisberg Sims & 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.
Following the trial, Mr. Weisberg stated, “This case was about a medical team that caused a treatable post-operative complication, but which they failed to refer for treatment, and instead repeatedly dismissed their patient’s complaints about her worsening condition. The woman who passed away was by all accounts an exemplary wife and mother, and her surviving husband and children have been devastated by her loss. We are grateful that after several years of the defendants refusing to accept responsibility, the jury has held the defendants accountable for the harm they have caused.”