$120 Million Jury Verdict in Late Diagnosis and Treatment of Stroke

The wife of William Lee, a 41-year-old father of young children, found him unconscious in the middle of the night. He was rushed to Westchester Medical Center where he underwent a head CT scan and had a neck CTA. A CTA or “coronary computed tomography angiography” involves the use of CT scans and an injected dye to develop computer-aided, 3-dimensional images of an artery.

Two second-year residents interpreted the tests as normal. Over an hour later, one of the residents contacted an attending physician, who was unable to view the test results due to a software problem. An experienced radiologist later diagnosed a basilar stroke. Lee underwent a thrombectomy, a procedure involving the removal of a blood clot.

Nevertheless, Lee suffered significant brain damage, resulting in severe short-term memory loss and impaired judgment. He now receives 24-hour treatment from a residential brain injury center located hours away from his family.

Lee’s wife sued Westchester County Health Care Corp., alleging that inexperienced on-call physicians were responsible for a three-hour delay in removing the blood clot from his basilar artery.

The lawsuit maintained that the CTA clearly showed blockage of Lee’s basilar artery. The lawsuit did not claim past lost income.

The jury deliberated and then signed a verdict for approximately $120 million. The parties reached a confidential post-verdict settlement.

At trial, the Lee family presented an expert in neurology; the defendant presented an expert in radiology.

The attorneys handling this tragic case for the Lee family were Jeffrey B. Bloom, Ben Rubinowitz and Richard Steigman.

Lee v. Westchester County Health Care Corp., 50914/2020 (N.Y. Sup.Ct. Westchester County).

Kreisman Law Offices has been handling misdiagnosis of stroke lawsuits, brain injury lawsuits, wrongful death lawsuits, hospital negligence lawsuits, radiology malpractice, and medical malpractice lawsuits for individuals, families and loved ones who have been harmed, injured or died as a result of the carelessness or negligence of a medical provider for more than 48 years in and around Chicago, Cook County and its surrounding areas, including Olympia Fields, Calumet City, Palos Park, Schaumburg, Tinley Park, Inverness, Orland Park, Rosemont, Chicago (Rogers Park, Bridgeport, Canaryville, South Shore, South East Side, Bronzeville, Chinatown, Des Plaines, Glenview, Homer Glen, and Naperville, Ill.

Robert D. Kreisman has been an active member of the Illinois and Missouri bars since 1976.