Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP attorneys Sarah A. Ferrill and Caroline A. Keig secured a defense verdict on behalf of their client, a vascular surgeon, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.
This case involved a 32-year-old woman with a left popliteal artery occlusion. Our vascular surgery client physician was consulted and Plaintiff initially agreed to surgery but later withdrew consent to proceed to the operating room. The Plaintiff later agreed to undergo thrombolysis overseen by the co-defendant interventional radiologist for a 3-day treatment. Thrombolysis successfully broke up the arterial blockage, but it caused a complication where the clot broke into smaller pieces that traveled to and occluded the small vessels in the foot resulting in no outflow. Plaintiff was not compliant with lying flat during therapy and claimed this was the reason treatment failed. Once the complication occurred, the Plaintiff developed critical ischemia and required urgent surgery to save her leg.
Plaintiff alleged that our client failed to offer surgery again during the most critical window of opportunity and that the co-defendant failed to order restraints or sedate her so thrombolysis could be successful.
At trial, Ferrill and Keig addressed many inconsistencies in plaintiff case and noted that the Defendant tried to explain the seriousness of the situation and obtain consent for surgery. Still, Plaintiff would not engage in conversation, which eventually led Plaintiff to undergo a left lower extremity amputation.
This case was initially filed in 2017. Plaintiff asked the jury for $7.2 million. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty for both defendants after approximately 2.5 hours of deliberation. The case was tried before Judge Bridget J. Hughes from 7/22/24 – 8/06/24.
Sarah A. Ferrill has devoted a majority of her practice to the defense of medical negligence claims and has substantial litigation experience in other areas, including pharmaceutical and medical device litigation. She represents hospitals, physicians, physician groups, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. Additionally, she represents clients in general tort, premises, and product liability work. Learn more about Sarah and practice here.
Caroline A. Keig is an associate attorney in the firm’s Chicago office and is a member of the Medical Negligence and Healthcare Practice Group. She concentrates her practice in the representation of hospitals, physicians, physician groups, nurses, and other healthcare providers. Learn more about Caroline and her practice here.
Original source can be found here.