April Walkup and Jim Bream, shareholders in the Chicago office, obtained a not guilty verdict on October 6, 2008 in a medical negligence wrongful death action brought against their clients, a local hospital and its employed physician.
The plaintiff alleged that the decedent's attending internal medicine physician deviated from the standard of care when he failed to administer Coumadin to the decedent following diagnosis of an acute DVT and as a protection against pulmonary embolism. The plaintiff argued that, as a result of this alleged deviation, the decedent died of a pulmonary embolism two days after he was discharged from the hospital.
Ms. Walkup and Mr. Bream argued that there were significant contraindications to the administration of Coumadin, including hematuria, being a fall risk, mental status changes, dizziness and deconditioning. In addition, the decedent had an inferior vena cava (IVC) filter in place which was between 95% to 98% effective in protecting the decedent from a fatal pulmonary embolism. Ms. Walkup and Mr. Bream also argued that because there was no autopsy, there was insufficient evidence to establish that the decedent died from a pulmonary embolism. The plaintiff asked for $5.5 million and the jury deliberated for less than 2 hours before returning a not guilty verdict in favor of both the hospital and the doctor.
