A state appeals panel has upheld a $42.4 million in favor of the family of a quadriplegic man who the courts determined died as a result of miscommunication by doctors and staff at an Advocate Health hospital, which resulted in him missing a surgery to replace an implant that kept him alive.
On Feb. 13, a three-justice panel of the Illinois First District Appellate Court ruled in favor of the family of Scott Wilcox, who died in 2017 at the age of 47, while under the care of staff at Advocate Condell Medical Center in north suburban Libertyville.
In the decision, the panel also became the latest court to uphold the constitutionality of a controversial state law, viewed as a "sop" to trial lawyers by their Democratic allies in Springfield, allowing plaintiffs to tack on potentially millions of dollars more in so-called "prejudgment interest" claims to jury verdicts, like the one in the Wilcox case.
According to court documents, Wilcox became paralyzed "from the armpits down" in a skiing accident in the late 1990s at the age of 26.
According to a release from the Wilcox family's attorneys from the firm of Corboy & Demetrio, of Chicago, during his physical therapy, Wilcox and his physical therapist's assistant, Robin, began dating and later married. They then had two daughters.
Following his injuries, Scott Wilcox suffered from muscle spasticity, or severe prolonged muscle contractions and spasms, which cause pain.
To treat that condition, doctors surgically implanted a device which directly injected him with a medication known as baclofen. The pump, however, had a limited battery life, and needed to be surgically replaced every five to seven years. According to court documents, the failure of the battery and depletion of baclofen would result in withdrawal symptoms, which begin with muscle spasms and increased blood pressure and heart rate, before affecting the recipient's breathing and mental condition, and ultimately leading to cardiopulmonary collapse and death.
According to court documents, Wilcox had undergone several such baclofen pump replacements since 2000.
Court documents indicate he was due for such a replacement in 2017. His doctors placed him in care at Advocate Condell Medical Center so he could be monitored for symptoms indicating baclofen withdrawal.
However, court documents indicate Advocate Condell nursing staff and his doctors allegedly did not properly communicate, and Wilcox's condition rapidly worsened over a weekend, allegedly requiring Wilcox's father to alert doctors to his son's symptoms.
A surgery to replace the baclofen pump was scheduled, but the family asserted Advocate staff did not properly obtain the supplies needed to complete the surgery in time, leading to Wilcox's death two weeks later.
The family then filed suit, accusing Advocate and health care staff of medical malpractice and wrongful death. A jury in Cook County Circuit Court found in favor of the Wilcox family, and awarded the family $42.4 million.
According to Corboy & Demetrio, the verdict represented the largest jury verdict ever in a medical malpractice case involving a man 20-years-old or older in Illinois.
A Cook County judge denied Advocate's request to overturn the verdict, prompting appeal from the largest health and hospital system operator in Illinois.
On appeal, Advocate argued it was being wrongly held directly liable for Wilcox's death. They said they could only be sued indirectly, as the hospital hosting Wilcox, while his actual care arrangements were handled by others.
The state appeals panel, however, disagreed.
The decision was authored by First District Appellate Justice James Fitzgerald Smith; Justices Aurelia Pucinski and Mary Ellen Coghlan concurred.
In the decision, Smith said the court agreed with plaintiffs that Advocate, as an organization, bore direct responsibility to ensure that the surgical supplies, including the pump and baclofen, needed to perform the surgery were present at the time the surgery was to be performed.
They also agreed the plaintiffs presented enough evidence and expert testimony to back their claims that the hospital had not followed established policies and national standards concerning how to comply with its "administrative and managerial" duties to train its staff to address the communication and logistical issues which allegedly led to Wilcox's death.
And they rejected Advocate's assertions that Illinois law should require plaintiffs to present proof that an organization, like Advocate, needs to be aware of such issues or violations of policies and standards before it can be sued.
The justices also denied Advocate's requests for a new trial and rejected its arguments that the Cook County judge wrongly allowed the plaintiffs to demand additional money under Illinois' "prejudgment interest" law.
They argued the law should be unconstitutional, because it improperly pressures defendants to settle even legally weak claims, rather than risk bigger payouts at trial. They asserted this denies defendants their constitutional rights to a fair chance to defend themselves at trial. They also argued the law was unconstitutionally enacted by Democratic Illinois state lawmakers, who allegedly did not follow legislative rules established in the Illinois state constitution.
When the law was enacted in 2021, critics, including advocacy groups for Illinois businesses and employers, called the law a "gift" to trial lawyers from their political allies in Springfield, who annually benefit from millions of dollars in campaign donations from trial lawyers. Critics of the law asserted the law was to be used as a hammer and threat against Illinois businesses, to pressure them to settle and make it easier to press even frivolous claims in court.
The claims were nearly identical to those laid out in other court challenges to the "prejudgment interest" law - all of which courts have rejected in all instances, save one Cook County judge, who was overturned on appeal.
The appellate panel in the Wilcox case also rejected Advocate's constitutional challenge to the law, citing the reasoning of a different Illinois First District Appellate panel, which upheld the law as constitutional in 2023.
In response to the decision, attorney Thomas Demetrio, from the firm of Corboy & Demetrio, responded to questions from The Cook County Record with the following statement, on behalf of the Wilcox family: “The Wilcox Family and its legal team are most appreciative of the care and attention to detail the appellate court devoted to its consideration of this case.”
The Wilcox family were also represented on appeal by attorneys Mitchell W. Bild and Michael D. Ditore, of the Corboy firm; and attorney Michael T. Reagan, of Ottawa.
A spokesperson for Advocate did not reply to a request for comment.
Advocate was represented in the action by attorneys J. Timothy Eaton, Jonathan B. Amarilio, and Adam W. Decker, of Taft Stettinius & Hollister; Catherine Basque Weiler, of Swanson, Martin & Bell; and Thomas R. Hill, Timothy F. Dobry and Lauren T. Scalzo, of Smith Blake Hill, all of Chicago.