SBH Attorneys Mark Smith and Suzana Broderick successfully defended a local critical care physician and his practice group at trial in Cook County. The case involved an 81-year-old woman who suffered a fatal retroperitoneal hemorrhage after undergoing percutaneous intervention in her leg. After diagnosis of the hemorrhage, the patient was transferred to the ICU, where she was treated and monitored for seven hours before taken to surgery to repair the bleed. Plaintiff claimed the critical care physician should have ordered a STAT vascular surgery consultation immediately upon presentation to the ICU and in the subsequent three hours due to the patient’s persistent hypotension and hemodynamic instability. The defense argued it was reasonable for the physician continue medical management until there was a change suggestive of abdominal compartment syndrome. Plaintiff asked the jury for $15 million in damages for Survival Act and Wrongful Death Act claims. On April 5, 2024, the jury returned a verdict in favor of all defendants. The case was tried in Cook County, Illinois, before The Honorable Jean M. Golden.
