$13.95 Million Jury Verdict for Late Diagnosis and Treatment of Child’s Embolic Stroke

Latosha Evans, 17, a heart transplant recipient, went to Children’s Hospital to undergo a cardiac catheterization to correct a fractured stent in her ascending aorta.

After this procedure, which lasted approximately three hours, Latosha was transferred to the facility’s post-anesthesia care unit. A report from a neurology consultation allegedly wrote in the chart that Latosha had possible right hemiparesis; however, neither the attending nursing nor medical staff initiated a stroke protocol or requested a complete neurological assessment.

Hemiparesis is a partial weakness on one side of the body. It can affect either the left or right side of the body. The weakness can involve the arms, hands, legs, face or a combination of all. Almost 80% of stroke survivors experience hemiparesis, making it one of the most common effects of a stroke.

Latosha did not wake up from anesthesia after several hours, prompting a neurology team to go to her bedside. The neurology team ordered a head CT scan to rule out stroke. This test, performed almost four hours after Latosha arrived at the unit, confirmed a large left middle cerebral artery stroke consistent with embolic ischemia.

Latosha was transferred to another hospital where she underwent a craniectomy. A craniectomy is the neurological procedure in which a part of the skull is removed to allow swelling of the brain room to expand without being squeezed. It is usually performed on patients like Latosha who suffered a stroke of this sort. Latosha’s condition raised her intracranial pressure to an alarmingly high rate.

Latosha is now 23 and, sadly, has limited verbal and cognitive ability necessitating 24-hour care.

Latosha and her family sued Children’s University Medical Group, which reportedly employed the medical staff that treated her at Children’s Hospital. It was alleged that the medical staff chose not to timely identify and treat the embolic stroke despite her neurological deficit and failure to recover from anesthesia.

As a result of the providers’ negligence, Latosha’s attorneys argued she was denied effective rescue therapies, including tPA, a clot buster, which could have prevented some of her catastrophic injuries.

The jury signed a verdict for approximately $13.95 million.

The attorneys who successfully handled this tragic case were Thomas Vertetis, Darrell L. Cochran and Elizabeth P. Calora.

Evans v. Seattle Children’s Hospital, No. 15-2-26711-6 SEA (Wash. Super. Ct. King County), Feb. 22, 2019.

Kreisman Law Offices has been handling traumatic brain injury lawsuits, misdiagnosis of stroke cases, wrongful death lawsuits, hospital negligence cases, birth injury cases and catastrophic brain injury lawsuits for individuals, families and loved ones who have been harmed, injured or died as a result of the carelessness or negligence of a medical provider for more than 40 years in and around Chicago, Cook County and its surrounding areas, including Evanston, Elmhurst, Elk Grove Village, Yorkfield, Northlake, Frankfort, Melrose Park, Schaumburg, Niles, Morton Grove, Glencoe, Northbrook, Mundelein, Round Lake Beach, Skokie, Western Springs, South Barrington, Hillside, Oakbrook, Chicago (Midway, Garfield Ridge, Marquette Park, Gresham, Washington Heights, Morgan Park, Mount Greenwood, Riverdale, South Deering, Pill Hill, Calumet Heights, West Loop, Goose Island, Old Town, Near North, Roscoe Village, Lincoln Square, Rosehill), Lincolnwood, Deerfield, Franklin Park and Summit, Ill.