SBH Partners Mark Smith and Kevin Fleming Successfully Defend Local Physician

SBH partners Mark Smith and Kevin Fleming secured a defense verdict on behalf of their client, a hospital medicine physician.  The case involved a sixty-seven-year-old woman who underwent liver and kidney biopsies at a local hospital, developed bleeding issues, and passed away.  The plaintiff claimed the patient’s PT/INR, hemoglobin, and platelet levels before the procedure created an unacceptably high risk for bleeding, and the defendant, hospitalist, should not have allowed her biopsies to proceed without first correcting her coagulopathy.  The defendants argued the lab values were at appropriate levels for the biopsies to take place and the patient’s bleeding and death were unforeseeable events.  The Plaintiff asked the jury to award more than $20 million.   The case was tried in Cook County Circuit Court before The Honorable Judge Scott D. McKenna.