SBH Attorneys Jenny Blake and Greta Powell successfully defended a local physician/hospitalist and hospital in a three-week jury trial. The patient (51-year-old man) underwent a bilateral total knee replacement and died roughly 24 hours later from a massive pulmonary embolism (PE). Plaintiff claimed the physician failed to recognize the signs and symptoms of a PE earlier in the day, failed to obtain a CT scan to definitively rule it out, and failed to start him on treatment doses of IV heparin. Plaintiff was survived by his wife and four daughters. SBH attorneys argued the pulmonary embolism was a sudden and unpredictable event at the time of his collapse, and the earlier vital sign changes were not from a PE. The defense also argued even if the patient was treated as claimed, it would not have changed the outcome. Plaintiff asked the jury to award in excess of $36-50 million. The jury deliberated for roughly 3 hours and returned a verdict in favor of all defendants. The case was tried in the Circuit Court of Cook County before Judge Bridget Hughes.
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