The following blog entry is written to illustrate an example of a personal injury case. Reviewing this kind of lawsuit should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court.
(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this personal injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)
Plaintiff was taken to surgery at 4:20 p.m., where a hole was found in the stomach with the g-tube floating free in the abdomen. The surgeon concluded that plaintiff had sepsis as the cause of his arrest. Plaintiff suffered a second cardiac arrest that night after surgery but was successfully resuscitated. However, he remained in a coma. He later developed gangrene in both legs, requiring above-knee amputations, as a consequence of his initial injuries.
Plaintiff alleged that defendant hospital nurses were negligent for causing the perforation/peritonitis by improper handling of the PEG tube and failing to notify physicians about plaintiff’s condition. All physician defendants were negligent for failing to diagnose plaintiff’s condition before he suffered a cardiac arrest from sepsis which caused hypoxic brain injury beyond his initial brain injury from the motorcycle accident.
The defense contended that all care provided was within the standard. Plaintiff presented with a very complicated surgical condition, and he has a very short life expectancy. His initial brain injury would have precluded future employment.
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.
CLAIMED INJURIES
According to Plaintiff: Comatose condition, requiring 24-hour nursing care.
CLAIMED DAMAGES
According to Plaintiff: $430,406 past medical; $5.4 million-$6.2 million, depending on life expectancy (disputed by defense). Future loss of earnings disputed by defense based on the severity of the brain injury from the initial motorcycle accident, which would have precluded future employment.
SETTLEMENT DISCUSSIONS
According to Plaintiff: Demand: $2.5 million (CCP § 998) to defendant hospital, CCP § 998 offers to defendant surgeon and on-call surgeon (partners) for $1 million each. Mediation held on November 11, 2010 before Jay Horton, Esq. at Judicate West.
SUMMARY:
Verdict/Judgment: Settlement
Verdict/Judgment Amount: $3,355,000
Settlement reached with defendant hospital for $2 million, defendant surgeons for $1.25 million, defendant hospitalist for $75,000, and defendant radiologist for $29,999.
Trial Type: Settlement
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.