$10 Million Medical Malpractice Settlement

Attorney David J. Pritchard announced that Judge Daniel Locallo of the Circuit Court of Cook County approved a $10 million settlement in the case of The Estate of Ernest Grant v. St. Francis Hospital and Health Center (Court No: 00 L 6788).

On March 17, 1999, 29 year-old Ernest Grant underwent an anterior cervical discectomy at St. Francis Hospital in Blue Island , Illinois due to an injury he had suffered from causing the herniation of a disc in his neck. While recovering from this surgery, Mr. Grant used a suction catheter that was intended for the removal of saliva to scratch an irritation in the back of his throat. Each time Mr. Grant scratched the back of his throat with the suction catheter, his oxygen levels dropped and an alarm sounded at the nurses’ station. The nurse on duty repeatedly warned Mr. Grant not to use the device in this manner, but failed to remove it from his control. The nurse also claimed that she notified the attending neurosurgeon of Mr. Grant’s actions, but the doctor denied that he was ever informed.

After several hours, Mr. Grant suffered a respiratory/cardiac arrest. It took more than 30 minutes for the Code team to intubate him due to tissue swelling in his throat. Mr. Grant never regained consciousness and he is still being cared for at Oak Forest Hospital. He has been diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state.

There was a dispute as to whether the nurse informed the attending neurosurgeon of the suction catheter problem. The nurse insisted she informed the neurosurgeon even though she did not chart that she had this conference. The neurosurgeon insisted he was not informed even though he charted he was aware of the problem.

“This is a tragedy that never had to happen. Multiple medical personnel were aware that Mr. Grant was continuously dropping his O2 sats over the course of several hours; but no one stepped forward to do anything about it. Even during the litigation, the defendants chose to blame each other rather than take responsibility,” said Attorney David J. Pritchard .

For additional information on the Grant case, David J. Pritchard or the Law Firm of Salvi,Schostok & Pritchard P.C., Christina Solomon, Director of Marketing at 312-372-1227 or at csolomon@salvilaw.com.