New Jersey: Largest Medical Malpractice Verdict in Orange County

According to a report in the Times-Herald Record, an Orange County, New Jersey jury has reached a verdict in the case of a critical-care physician and nurse at Bon Secours Community Hospital accused of a medical error causing a woman to suffer a brain injury and became severely disabled. The jury's damage award includes $19.5 million for future medical and rehabilitation services for the patient and $5 million for her husband. Read the full news item here. (Note, the newspaper lists the verdict at $34 million, while the amounts published do not match the amount claimed in the headline. The difference may be interest on the verdict, however, no other information was attainable at the time of this post.)

Pennsylvania jury awards $20.5 million in medical malpractice case

The Times Tribune reports that a Lackawanna County, PA, jury awarded $20.5 million in a medical malpractice suit related to a boy's medical problems caused by mistakes made at his birth. It is one of the largest awards in recent years. According to the news report,

"No medical malpractice jury verdict in the seven counties of Northeast Pennsylvania has exceeded $10 million from 2000 to 2007, according to statistics compiled by the state Supreme Court."

For more information, please click on the link: Pennsylvania jury award.

Top Med Mal Verdicts & Settlements in MA for 2008*

This via Law Links | Health Links: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly has compiled its Top Verdicts & Settlements for 2008 (* as of its June 2, 2008 issue) and medical malpractice lawsuits are again prominent. Four of the top five settlements were medical malpractice cases:

$6 million for birth injury
$5 million for delay in diagnosis of cancer
$5 million for misdiagnosed cardiac arrest
$4.85 million for birth injury

With the fifth being a fishing accident.

Of the top five verdicts, three were personal injury lawsuits, one is a medical malpractice case ($9.1 million for medical negligence related to thyroid surgery) and one is a patent infringement case. Boston med mal law firm Lubin & Meyer represented plaintiffs in 4 of the 5 largest medical malpractice related verdicts and settlements for 2008 so far this year. Halstrom Law Offices represented the other settlement.

Pennsylvania Jury Awards $3 Million for Sinus Infection Misdiagnosis

In today's Pittsburgh Post Gazette: Jury awards $3 million in malpractice suit for sinuses treated with steroids, not antibiotic...The case involved a woman who visited her family doctor's office, reporting having headaches and nasal discharge — "symptoms consistent with a sinus infection," according to the report.

"But the physician's assistant who saw her failed to make that diagnosis or to prescribe antibiotics. Instead, according to [the patient's] attorney, his client received a prescription for steroids, was told to undergo additional testing and return in a week.

But just five days later, she developed stroke-like symptoms, including facial drooping and disorientation, said one of her attorneys, Stephen Del Sole."

See article online.

Massachusetts Jury Verdict - Medical Malpractice

The Lowell Sun reports on a case in Lowell Superior Court involving a woman who died 19 days after having surgery to remove ovarian cysts in a wrongful death lawsuit, calling it "one of the largest jury verdicts in the Merrimack Valley [Massachusetts]." A jury decided after 3 days of deliberations and an 11-day trial.

Attorney for the plaintiff Suzanne McDonough said that:

"the lawsuit, filed in 2002, arose from the June 6, 1999, death of .... the mother of an 11-year-old daughter, who went into Lowell General Hospital a few weeks earlier on May 13 to remove an ovarian cyst. But while in the hospital, Edwards developed pneumonia.

McDonough alleges that at trial, the attorneys representing the doctors argued that the ovarian problems were making the pneumonia worse, so surgery was necessary even though Edwards had not been a candidate for surgery five days earlier."

She further comments in the article: "The jury found that both doctors were negligent and their negligence caused Edwards' death." The jury awarded $2 million to the daughter of the deceased, and $500,000 to the estate. Boston attorney Andrew Meyer who also represented the family said, "This was a big verdict," and with interest, the verdict could rise to $4.1 million, he said."

See full account here.