Sarah F. King, partner at Clifford Law Offices, wrote an article for the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association (ITLA) Summer 2020 Trial Journal magazine titled, “Practice Tips: Opening Statement in a Medical Malpractice Case, Estate of Gerald Sallis, Jr vs. West Suburban Medical Center et al“.
In August 2014, at West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, Illinois, expectant mother Ms. Sallis’ external fetal monitoring strips were ignored for six hours by multiple medical professionals. This resulted in her son, Gerald Sallis, Jr., being born with severe brain damage.
Discovery in the case of Sallis vs. West Suburban Medical Center was conducted over three years. It was a hard fought and complex medical malpractice case concerning the devastating injuries suffered by Gerald Sallis Jr. Experts on behalf of the plaintiff testified that he would have been born a normal baby if hospital nurses and other medical personnel would have alerted doctors to the abnormalities and performed an emergency C-section.
The case began on October 3, 2019 and Sarah King delivered the opening statements. Following a month-long trial, Keith A. Hebeisen, Bradley M. Cosgrove, Sarah F. King and Charles R. Haskins obtained a record verdict of $101 million on behalf of Gerald Sallis. He will now get the life-long, 24/7 care that he needs.
“To see this young child now suffer every minute of every day when he should be playing on a playground in kindergarten is a terrible thing,” King said. “The jury, though, followed the evidence and the court’s instructions in giving Gerald what he deserves.”
Sarah King‘s litigation work has been highlighted by significant achievements of justice on behalf of injured women and children. Sarah obtained a $22,900,000 settlement on behalf of a young boy injured at birth who is now permanently brain damaged and suffering with life altering physical disabilities as a result of obstetrical malpractice and a $8,500,000 settlement on behalf the husband and children of a young mother who died following childbirth due to a failure of the medical providers to diagnose and treat bleeding from a placental abruption.
Click here to read Sarah King’s opening statement in the case of the Estate of Gerald Sallis, Jr vs. West Suburban Medical Center et al.