Clifford Law issued the following announcement on March 20.
Bradley M. Cosgrove, partner at Clifford Law Offices, obtained a record $8.5 million verdict this afternoon (Wednesday, March 20, 2019) against the largest medical care facility in Williamson County for the death of a 60-year-old Marion man who died following elective shoulder surgery.
The jury reached the highest personal injury verdict in history in Williamson County in Marion, Illinois, before Judge Brad K. Bleyer in three hours. The previous high was $2.9 million. The hospital had admitted liability just hours before the trial was set to begin Monday. on behalf of Madeline Williamson. “The jury obviously felt that the plaintiff was terribly wronged by the defendant Heartland Regional Medical Center when it did not properly monitor Lowell Williamson or examine his records prior to or during surgery,” Cosgrove said after the verdict was rendered. It also had been alleged that doctors did not formulate a specific plan for anesthesia and did not make themselves available during the administration of the anesthesia. Lowell died when a certified registered nurse anesthetist and hospital employees administered a lethal dose of a gas known as Sevoflurane, causing Lowell to become dangerously hypotensive. Although a physician was required to be immediately available, the attending anesthesiologist did not respond to the emergency situation for approximately 55 minutes, despite multiple attempts to contact her.
The anesthesiologist claimed that she was attending to another emergency in the hospital. In the week before trial, hospital records produced by the hospital showed that there was no other emergency. Lowell’s blood pressure became extremely low and he also became hypoxic. Later he was declared brain dead.
Charles R. Haskins, associate at the firm, assisted at trial. Mark Prince of the Prince Law Firm served as local counsel and co-trial counsel. Clifford Law Offices is a nationally recognized personal injury and wrongful death firm based in Chicago.
Original source can be found here.