$4.48 Million Jury Verdict for the Death Caused by Failure to Respond to Post Surgical Complaints

Thomas Rogers was 54 years old when he underwent surgery at Optim Medical Center-Tattnall to remove a cervical disk at C-3. Later that night following the surgery, he complained of neck pain and difficulty speaking and swallowing.

Four hours later, a code blue was started. Despite four attempts to intubate, he died. He was survived by his wife.

Rogers’s wife, individually and on behalf of the Rogers’ estate, sued the hospital and Rogers’s attending physician claiming that the doctor and the hospital’s nurses chose not to respond to his postoperative complaints. It was also claimed that there was a failure to control Rogers’s bleeding at the surgical site.

The Rogers family maintained that he had developed a clot in his airway and was suffering from internal bleeding after the surgery. Additionally, the estate and family claimed that the doctor chose not to timely notify Rogers’s surgeon about his condition and called the surgeon only during the code.

The jury signed a verdict for $4.48 million, apportioning liability at 90% to the hospital and 10% to the doctor.

The attorneys successfully handling this tragic case were Robert Turner, William Degenhart and Frank Cardillo.

At the jury trial, the Rogers family attorneys presented experts in nursing policy and procedures, orthopedic surgery and emergency medicine. The defendants presented experts to testify in general surgery, pathology, nursing practice and internal medicine.

Rogers v. Orthopedics Center, P.C., No. STCV 1501573 (Ga. St. Ct. Chatham County).

Kreisman Law Offices has been handling wrongful death lawsuits, medical malpractice cases, nursing negligence lawsuits, brain damage lawsuits and labor and delivery lawsuits for individuals, families and loved ones who have been injured, harmed or killed by the carelessness or negligence of a medical provider for more than 40 years, in and around Chicago, Cook County and its surrounding areas, including Orland Park, Melrose Park, Crete, Matteson, River Grove, Rosemont, Schiller Park, Tinley Park, Palos Park, Palatine, Vernon Hills, Chicago (Wicker Park, Austin, Lake Calumet, South Shore, Ukrainian Village, Lincoln Square, Albany Park, Bronzeville), Lincolnshire and Lincolnwood, Ill.