A Cook County Circuit Court jury returned a verdict for $3.3 million against Northwestern Hospital for administering a 56-year-old man 10 times the ordered dosage of an anti-viral drug that led to his kidney failure and death.
Keith A. Hebeisen and Sarah F. King, lawyers at Clifford Law Offices, obtained the verdict against the major hospital in a Chicago courtroom following a one-week trial. The six-man-six-woman jury deliberated less than two hours before returning the verdict for the family of Michael Vandelinder.
Vandelinder traveled to Northwestern Hospital from suburban Detroit in 2010 to be treated for complications following a bone marrow transplant for leukemia. Although the defendant admitted negligence for dispensing and administering the 10 times overdose of Foscarnet from its pharmacy department, it denied that the overdose caused the man’s death.
“It is clear that the jury understood the negligence that harmed this wonderful man who still had years to live,” King said following the verdict that came down late Wednesday (Aug. 10, 2016). “He was a husband and father of four children, and the entire family was devastated by such negligence.”
The case was tried before the Hon. Donald J. Suriano at the Daley Center.
“The massive overdose of the drug basically destroyed Michael’s kidney and after that he fought for his life for almost two weeks,” Hebeisen said. “Hospitals need to be vigilant when it comes to dispensing drugs. There is no excuse for giving someone 24,000 milligrams when the order was supposed to be for 2,400 milligrams. There needs to be a better check-and-balance system, especially when you are talking about life-and-death circumstances.”
To speak to Sarah King on the matter or to obtain photographs of the family, please call Clifford Law Offices Communications Partner Pamela Sakowicz Menaker at 847-721-0909 or 913-940-0489.