Keith A. Hebeisen and Sarah F. King, attorneys at Clifford Law Offices late Friday (Dec. 11, 2015) obtained a record $950,000 verdict in Ford County in a medical malpractice case.
The verdict is a record involving a medical malpractice case in Ford County, according to John Kirkton of the Jury Verdict Reporter, who reported that the previous highest verdict or settlement in that county was $370,000 in 2007.
The verdict was reached following a two-week trial involving a 73-year-old man who was admitted to a local hospital in downstate Illinois complaining of chest pain. Despite two previous visits to the emergency room and his primary care physician’s clinic that week with similar complaints, no cardiac testing or monitoring was ordered and no referral to a cardiologist was made.
He was admitted to the hospital still complaining of chest pains and still no proper tests were ordered. Three days later, Dean Buhs of Gibson City, Illinois, was discharged only to return the following day with the same complaints. He died that day leaving behind his wife, Judith, and two adult sons.
The jury reached the verdict in just over four hours against the primary care physician, Dr. David J. Hagan, and his clinic, Gibson City Clinic, S.C,
“It is a terrible tragedy that this man had to unnecessarily suffer as he did and then die,” Hebeisen said following the verdict. “Following a reasonable standard of care would have saved this man’s life. He had many good years ahead of him still.”
The five-man-seven-woman jury trial was before Judge Matthew Fitton.