Kreisman Law Offices Professional Corporation
On Aug. 17, 2012, 66-year-old Maria Giotta underwent an outpatient CT scan with contrast at the Presence Resurrection Hospital. She began to experience an adverse reaction to the contrast solution during the scan, but the CT technician chose not to recognize or appreciate her dilemma. The CT technician discharged her from his care despite the fact that she was still hot, flushed and dizzy.
Just moments after she left the radiology department she experienced a fainting episode in the hospital hallway and collapsed to the floor landing on her left hand. Giotta sustained displaced proximal phalanx fractures of all four fingers on the left hand, two of which were open fractures requiring emergency open reduction internal fixation and six months of physical therapy. She had expended $32,340 for medical expenses. She continues to have permanent left hand stiffness, pain and limited grip strength.
Her attorneys, Michael S. Fiorentino and Samantha L. Israel, represented her and made a demand before trial of $395,000. Giotta’s attorneys asked the jury in closing argument to return a verdict of $1.6 million. The only offer made by the hospital to settle this case was $75,000.
The medical evidence adduced at trial included an orthopedic surgeon, family practice physician and a radiologist. In addition, Giotta’s attorneys engaged an expert witness in pharmacology. The defendant brought an emergency medicine physician to testify on its behalf.
The jury’s verdict of $842,340 included the following damages:
• $500,000 for loss of normal life;
• $300,000 for pain and suffering;
• $10,000 for disfigurement; and
• $32,340 for medical expenses.
Maria Giotta v. Presence Resurrection Medical Center, No. 13 L 1407 (Cook County, Ill.).
Kreisman Law Offices has been handling hospital negligence cases, medical malpractice cases, birth trauma injury cases and nursing home abuse cases for individuals and families who have been harmed, injured or died as a result of the carelessness or negligence of a medical provider for more than 38 years in and around Chicago, Cook County and its surrounding areas, including Bensenville, Bolingbrook, Clarendon Hills, Hinsdale, Harwood Heights, Melrose Park, Elk Grove Village, Waukegan, Lake Bluff, River Grove, Park Forest, Park Ridge, Naperville, Plainfield, Glenview and Wilmette, Ill.
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