Value of Medical Malpractice Case

If you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice, you are likely looking for information on what you can expect in terms of an outcome in terms of a settlement or verdict (if the case goes to trial).

Unfortunately, unlike other types of personal injury cases that tend to have a formulaic approach to settlement, medical negligence cases tend to be very fact specific and the outcome is dependent on the circumstance of the injured party. We have organized the following medical malpractice case information to help you reach an individual answer to this question.

How Much is My Medical Malpractice Claim Worth?

What commonly affects the value of these cases is the insurance company for the doctor and / or hospital involved. Typically, many medical institutions are "self-insured" meaning a settlement is paid directly by the facility as opposed to an insurance carrier.

In Illinois medical malpractice settlements are comprised of economic and non-economic damages such as:

• Pain and suffering
• Medical expenses
• Lost wages
• Disability
• Loss of emotional and financial support in wrongful death

Should you have questions about the value of your medical malpractice claim or a medical malpractice lawsuit, we always invite you to contact our law firm to get a free consultation with an experienced medical malpractice lawyer about your situation. We know the law and how to help a plaintiff.

Below is specific information on settlement amounts for different types of medical malpractice cases.

How Much are Surgical Medical Malpractice Cases Worth?

Case: Miner vs. The University Of Chicago Medical Center

Jurisdiction: Cook County

Recovery: $1,900,000 Court Settlement

This unfortunate incident began when medical staff and physicians failed to remove a spinal epidural from a patient's body. After a certain amount of time, the patient started to feel aching in her back and numbness in her neck because of the lodged item. She went back to the hospital to inform them of this, but it took nearly a day and a half before it was removed.

She nearly died from the affair and was permanently paralyzed from the neck down. Not long after these events transpired, she sued for medical malpractice. The defendants could hardly justify leaving the epidural in her body as well as explain how it took them so long to remove it; therefore, they ran to settle. The plaintiff received $1,900,000.

Case: Link vs. Dunn

Jurisdiction: Cook County

Recovery: $731,123.79 Jury Verdict

A woman in this instance went back to the doctor a few weeks after having a baby because she was suffering from bleeding. Her doctors had her undergo a pelvic ultrasound to identify the reason for this abnormality. After reviewing the results of this procedure, her physician informed her that she retained placenta and needed to have dilation and a curettage operation in order to fix the problem.

It was later determined that she did not have retained placenta, that the operation was unnecessary, and that it left her unable to bear more children. 

She brought a malpractice suit for this misdiagnosis as well as medical expenses, pain and suffering, and loss of consortium. In response, the defendants denied she had sustained any injury at all and that even if so, it was not to the extent that she claimed.

Unable to reach a compromise, the two sides went to court to settle their disagreement. The jury agreed with the plaintiff's attorney that the surgery was not necessary and the reason for her future inability to have kids. 

They awarded her the following money damages:

• Medical Expenses: $231,123.79
• Pain and Suffering: $250,000
• Loss of Normal Life: $200,000
• Loss of Consortium: $50,000
• Total: $731,123.79

Case: Orsinger vs. Arlington Medical Associates

Jurisdiction: Cook County

Recovery: $1,443,719 Jury Verdict

This case involved a 59-year-old woman who underwent an arterial balloon angioplasty. Shortly after, she experienced a stroke, heart attack, and even the loss of a limb. Eventually, she even died from complications due to the angioplasty. Her family members sued. They maintained that the surgery was incorrectly applied and executed.

The defendant doctor and hospital dismissed this notion and replied that a rare blood disorder killed the patient. Refusing compromise, the dispute eventually went to trial where the jury found for the decedent's estate. 

They found the surgery was negligently prescribed and carried out and awarded the plaintiff $1,443,719. Of that amount, $360,000 was for medical damages and $1,443,719 was for punitive damages.

Talk to a medical malpractice lawyer today about a medical malpractice claim and possible medical malpractice cases. Then, you may have a better understanding about the medical malpractice case.

How Much are Prescription Medical Malpractice Lawsuits Worth?

Medical Malpractice Claim: Bohn vs. Indrajit Patel

Jurisdiction: Cook

Recovery: $349,000

The patient in this case went to the emergency room after experiencing back and stomach agony. The doctor in the ER prescribed the painkiller Duragesic. Several days later, the woman had to return again to the ER where she was diagnosed with hypoxia and hypoventilation. Later investigations revealed that the ER doctor prescribed four times the necessary amount of Duragesic.

At trial, the plaintiff's lawyer pointed to this fact as evidence that he was negligent and breached the relevant standard of care. In response, the doctor claimed that he operated correctly in the circumstance even though he violated the suggested amount as dictated by medical texts. 

The jury sided with the victim and awarded her $349,000 (economic damages and non economic damages) in the following fashion:

• Medical Costs: $24,000
• Pain and suffering: $100,000
• Loss of Normal Life: $225,000
• Total: $249,000

Medical Malpractice Lawsuit: Estate Of Kulisek vs. Walgreens

Jurisdiction: Cook

Recovery: $31,351,107 Award

This mishap had a deadly ending. A Walgreens pharmacy employee filed a client's prescription with Gilpizide (meant for diabetes) rather than with the gout medication he was supposed to receive. The client died as a result of this accident, according to the plaintiffs. His estate sued and the defendants mounted a strong defense.

The attorney said that he died ten months after this incident and that the true cause of his death was end stage renal failure rather than their conduct. The jury was nonplussed by these points and they awarded the estate $31,351,107 in money damages ($25,000,000 for punitive damages and $6,351,107 for pain and suffering as well as economic damages). 

Read more about pharmacy errors involving the wrong medication here.

Medical Malpractice Lawsuit: Thurston vs. Ninio

Jurisdiction: Cook

Recovery: $1,500,000 AWARD

Like many other kids, a teenager in this case went to the doctor with an eye infection. The physician prescribed a steroid ointment and the kid took it over the course of two years. The doctor prescribed this medication knowing that it posed the risk of blindness to the patient and that is exactly what happened.

At the time of the subsequent lawsuit, the teenager had already lost almost half of his vision in the affected eye and doctors said he would lose all of it within ten years. The jury returned a verdict against the doctor and pharmacy for $1,500,000 (economic damages and other losses).

Case: Ramirez vs. Vargas

Jurisdiction: Cook

Recovery: $313,706 Award

Here a patient was hospitalized after a drug overdose from a combination of morphine and Xanax. To treat the emergency, her doctor prescribed morphine sulfate and alprazolam. The cocktail of all these medications and drugs killed her. Her estate sued the doctor for malpractice. 

The attorney alleged in the lawsuit that he was negligent by failing to properly ascertain a medical history of the decedent, communication with her other physicians about medications she had taken and prescribing a lethal dose of morphine sulfate and alprazolam.

At trial, the doctor countered that the decedent was contributorily negligent by overdosing and by failing to follow doctors' orders. Also, he argued that those close to him should have gotten him to the hospital sooner and they were contributorily negligent in this respect. 

The jury actually bought this line of reasoning and awarded 50% of the fault to the decedent and those close to him. Thus, the award of $313,706 was cut in half.

Case: Doe vs. Magsaysay

Jurisdiction: Cook

Recovery: $2,400,000 Award

This incident started when a doctor gave a patient the wrong prescription. As a result, the latter began to experience pancreatitis, and this required a blood transfusion. During the transfusion, the patient contracted HIV. 

He sued his doctor for malpractice because of the original prescription error and the jury awarded him $2,400,000 ($1,000,000 for loss of services / economic damages and $1,400,000 for punitive damages).

Case: Guardiola vs. Basinger's Pharmacy

Jurisdiction: Will

Recovery: $1,000,000 Settlement

In this case, a pharmacy gave a 52-year-old man the wrong prescription. This had the effect of worsening his seizure disorder as well as ruptured discs and spinal fractures. Also, the plaintiff claimed that the wrong medication trigger a seizure in him. 

He sued the company for damages related to his injuries. The defendant responded that the type and dosage of medication; however, these factual issues were never tested at trial because they settled for $1,000,000 for his economic damages and other harms.

Speak with an experienced medical malpractice attorney about the settlement value of medical malpractice lawsuits and a possible medical malpractice settlement for your injuries. Medical malpractice claims are quite complex and often require skilled medical malpractice attorneys.

How Much are Hospital Medical Malpractice Claims Worth?

Hospitals are the center of many stories of neglect and negligence that result in serious injury or injuries. Therefore, clients often question us as to the medical malpractice settlement value of medical malpractice lawsuits against such facilities or their insurance companies.

2015; Illinois; $842,350 Jury Award

This case started off innocently enough. Staff at the hospital prepared a patient for a CT scan. They brought her into the examination room and injected her with the standard IV contrast dye. 

Not long after this, the woman experienced significant agony and fell to the floor. Doctors later discovered that she was allergic to the contrast dye. This realization did not prevent her from being seriously injured from the allergic reaction and subsequent fall.

She sued the hospital for negligence. Her attorneys made the claim that they should have monitored the plaintiff better, checked her for allergies, and, most significantly, instituted better procedures and protocols to preclude this from happening according to the law. 

The hospital denied these allegations, but the facts spoke for themselves: they injected her with something she was allergic to and she was harmed because of it. 

The jury awarded her $842,350 in the following damages categories:

• Pain and suffering: $300,000
• Punitive: $500,000
• Medical (future medical and past): $42,350
• Total: $842,350

2014; Illinois; $17,000,000 Jury Compensation Award

A child in this case was staying at a hospital for various reasons when doctors decided to perform a Sistrunk procedure. The aim of this procedure was to remove a cyst in his throat. The difficulty in these circumstances was that the kid was only 19 months old. So, when surgeons started the surgery, they accidentally punctured his throat.

This and other failures caused the child to have hematoma, air loss, and other critical health failures. This negligence was compounded by the conduct of the nurses who exacerbated the throat puncture by failing to monitor his vital signs.

The consequence of this calamitous series of events was that he suffered permanent brain damage and was never able to speak. His parents sued for negligence, but the defendants claimed that these results were known risks and unpreventable. They refused to settle, unfortunately for them, because the jury awarded them $17,000,000 for his damages.

2014; Illinois; $5,000,000 Award

The victim in this case was a man in his mid-fifties. He had just undergone an angioplasty in his neck-a procedure that tries to repair a blocked or broken blood vessel. After the surgery had completed, he complained to nurses about agony in the treated area.

Unfortunately, they did not follow up or refer his case to a physician. He died from these complications. His estate sued the hospital and nurses for negligence. Their attorney complained that the defendants failed to monitor his situation and contact a doctor. 

The doctor who performed the surgery settled with his estate for $1,000,000 but the hospital denied all claims in the lawsuit. Eventually, the jury found that they were deficient in caring for him and awarded him $4,000,000 in damages compensation ($2,750,000 for loss of services and $1,250,000 for suffering and pain). Thus, the total compensation of the estate was $5,000,000.

Tell us about your case and our medical malpractice lawyers may describe what your malpractice case is worth. It may include sums for medical bills (future medical expenses and past medical), reduced earning capacity (future lost investment), pain from personal injury, non economic damages and other losses covered by malpractice insurance. 

We can create an attorney client relationship to go to trial and get an amount of money that you deserve. Contact us for free legal advice on the settlement amount claim value.

Leave your contact information, phone number, description of injury or injuries, our attorneys can explain the claim process with you including how much money may be available in Illinois.

How Much are Emergency Room Malpractice Cases Worth?

ER negligence results in substantial agony and damage. This injury can be addressed through a claim for money in court as the following summaries demonstrate.

2015, Illinois: $6,900,000 Settlement

This incident began joyfully with the birth of a child in an Illinois emergency room. Doctors reviewed the conditions of the mother and infant and cleared them for discharge. 

What they failed to realize, however, was that the mother was suffering from preeclampsia, a condition found in women during late pregnancy that is characterized by high blood pressure.

After she returned home, the issue worsened, and she suffered seizures that led to brain damage and her subsequent death. Her estate sued the operators of the ER for negligence with the help of an attorney.

Their lawyer alleged that they failed to check her condition prior to discharging her, failed to check with her obstetrician, and failed to perform tests that might have stopped this from occurring. 

The defendants denied all liability, but fearing a sympathetic jury and defeat in court, they sought a settlement. The woman's family received $6,900,000.

2013, Illinois: $1,500,000 Jury Award

In this case, the doctors guessed wrong and it cost the patient her life. She went to the emergency room with back pain, a fever, and other related symptoms. 

The doctors diagnosed her with a viral infection, prescribed a course of treatment, and released her. She actually had a bacterial infection that progressed into toxic shock syndrome and caused her death not long after her ER visit.

Her estate sued for medical malpractice and wrongful death. The defendant' attorneys argued that none of their actions caused any of her injuries, including her passing, but the jury disagreed. They found that the defendants' conduct was the proximate cause of her death and awarded her estate $1,500,000.

2013, Illinois: $2,439,544 Jury Award

After gastric bypass surgery, a 47-year-old man began to suffer from severe abdominal pain. He went to the emergency room to receive treatment, but the doctors could not find anything. Unfortunately, they missed the fact that he had a bowel obstruction, which is common in people who have recently had gastric bypass procedures.

The man died a day after being released from the hospital. His estate sued the ER and resident physicians for negligence. The lawyers responded that his symptoms were atypical of a bowel obstruction and that his CT scan failed to show the true nature of his injuries. 

The jury found that they were responsible for his death and awarded the plaintiff $2,439,544 in damages compensation:

• Lost Wages: $1,226,616
• Lost Society: $1,093,577
• Pain and Suffering: $110,000
• Compensatory: $9,362
• Total: $2,439,544 

How Much are Anesthesia Medical Malpractice Cases Worth?

2004, Illinois: $1,000,000 Jury Award

A woman in her early forties was admitted to a hospital for surgery on her nose. Doctors and nurses prepared her for the procedure as they would any other patient, and that included the administration of anesthesia.

Unfortunately, they did not check to see whether or not she was allergic to the anesthetic, and she suffered an allergic reaction once it was administered. The incident left her with a substantial loss of vision. Naturally, she sued the providers for malpractice.

Her suit alleged that they were negligent in failing to check her allergies, administering the drug, and not monitoring her deteriorating condition. The defendants replied that this was an unforeseeable situation that they could not control. The jury did not buy this defense. They awarded the woman $1,000,000 for her injuries.

2014, Illinois: $10,500,000 Jury Award

In this incident, a child of just 12 years was sent into surgery for an operation on his femur. His attorney later contended that the procedure was unnecessary and that the doctors administering anesthesia did so improperly. As a result, he sustained a hypoxic brain injury that would require constant medical attention for the foreseeable future.

The defendants' lawyer flatly rejected this argument. Instead of citing anesthesia failures, they countered that the child developed fat embolism syndrome and that was to blame for his injuries. Fat embolism syndrome is when fat molecules in the blood vessels interrupt the body's oxygenation process. 

However, the jury was more convinced by the plaintiff's version of events and awarded the 12-year-old $10,500,000 in compensatory, medical, and non-economic damages.

2009, Illinois: $2,200,000 Settlement

The patient in this case was prescribed a course of surgery because she was suffering from endometriosis. This is a condition affecting the lining of the uterus. There were two anesthesiologists present, and they were the ones responsible for the misconduct in question here.

While trying to put the woman under, they accidentally punctured her body and left her without oxygen for almost five minutes. This caused extraordinary brain damage that reduced her to a vegetative state for the rest of her life. 

Her representatives sued the doctors and hospital for medical malpractice. Since they were obviously at fault, the defendants sought to settle, and the plaintiffs consented for $2,200,000.

How Much are Psychiatry Medical Malpractice Cases Worth?

2006; Illinois; $350,000 Jury Award

The patient in this case saw two psychiatrists on an early spring day in 1999. The very next day she committed suicide. Years later, when her family learned of this visit, they brought suit against the doctors for negligence and medical malpractice. 

Their suit alleged that their improper care led to her death. Specifically, they failed to prescribe any anti-depression medication. The doctors responded that they only saw the woman once and that this was hardly enough to establish that their care or lack of care was the legal cause of her death. 

However, the jury disagreed and awarded the woman's estate $350,000 for pain and suffering and loss of support.

2005; Illinois; $500,000 Settlement

This tragedy started when a young woman was admitted to a hospital for treatment. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and held for examination. A few days later, she was dead from suicide. 

Her family sued the treating psychiatrist and hospital for failing to monitor the decedent, notice common signs of depression, or prescribe any medication to abate her symptoms. The defendants denied any negligence and said that the woman herself was the negligent party because she refused medication and tried to escape. These factual issues were never tried at court, however, because they settled for $500,000.

How Much are Urology Medical Malpractice Cases Worth?

2013, Illinois: $1,808,000 Jury Award (Recommending the Wrong Procedure)

A urologist provided a 73-year-old substandard care by not repeating a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test to confirm previous test results and instead recommended a TRUS (trans-rectal ultrasound-guided biopsy) procedure. 

However, the procedure can increase the potential risk of developing a life-threatening E. coli infection in the patient's bowel. The man with pre-existing conditions underwent the procedure and developed an E. coli (Escherichia coli) infection and died two months later after the infectious bacteria spread to his spine.

How Much can a Pulmonary Embolism Medical Malpractice Case Be Worth?

$4,035,000 Settlement; Illinois Pulmonary Embolism Case

The patient in this incident was a thirty-seven-year-old woman. She had a young child at the time who was just four years old. The lady had a procedure done at an Illinois hospital to treat a tibia fracture. After that concluded, staff did not give her blood thinner medication. Then, due to that oversight, she developed deep vein thrombosis. 

Eventually, the matter escalated to the point where she had a pulmonary embolism with brain damage. However, staff failed to identify the issue. This delay in diagnosis cost her dearly. 

She passed away from the pulmonary embolism leaving her daughter motherless. This claim was brought against the hospital and doctor for wrongful death. Eventually, the parties were able to reach a settlement. The plaintiffs received a combined payout of $4,035,000 from the defendants.

Speak With an Experienced Medical Malpractice Attorney About the Value of Your Settlement Today.

Dealing with medical malpractice might seem unbearable. The pain, frustration, and costs may start to overwhelm you. They do not have to though. The medical negligence attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers work with victims of medical malpractice in Illinois.

Our team brings medical negligence claims on their behalf so that the people who cause pain compensate patients for the harms they cause.  

We don't charge clients anything unless we win. Hear about how we can start helping you today. Contact our office to tell us about your case and set up a free consultation.