Illinois Appellate Court Affirms $5 Million Verdict in Suicide Case

The Illinois Appellate Court affirmed a Cook County jury verdict of $5 million for a suicide that occurred at Advocate Health and Hospital Corp. The decedent, Bozena Binkowski, sued Advocate Health in Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago, alleging medical negligence and wrongful death related to the death of her husband, Philip Cirrano, who died by suicide in 2015.

Binkowski alleged that her husband, who suffered from anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder, was improperly discharged from Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital’s psychiatric unit 52 days after his admission. He was admitted to the hospital because he had made a December 2014 unsuccessful suicide attempt.

In January 2015, he was transferred to an independent living facility without any psychiatric staff. It was there, in February 2015, that he took his own life. The Cook County jury returned a verdict for $5 million in favor of Binkowski and the estate.

Advocate moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) and argued that Binkowski chose not to establish proximate cause by her expert witness, a physician with a specialty in psychiatry.

As an alternative, Advocate argued that it was entitled to a new trial because the jury verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence. It was also maintained that Binkowski’s lawyers committed misconduct that resulted in unfair prejudice by focusing on the plaintiff’s expert testimony. It was also argued that the awards for loss of society and the Illinois Survival Act damages required a new trial or a substantial remittitur, or reduction of the jury’s verdict.

The Illinois Appellate Court’s panel wrote that the trial judge correctly denied Advocate’s motion for JNOV and that the jury’s verdict was not against the manifest weight of the evidence. In addition, the appeals panel stated that Cirrano was discharged from the hospital while still assessed as being a moderate risk of suicide and established the legal causation as required. The appellate court also rejected Advocate’s argument that Binkowski’s counsel committed trial misconduct by failing to disclose that the plaintiff’s expert had viewed the records of Cirrano’s psychiatrist and that his testimony should have been barred.

“We agree that barring Dr. Jacobs’ testimony [plaintiff’s expert] would have been too harsh of a sanction and a death blow to Binkowski’s case and that the limiting instruction [jury] instruction was fair and did not prejudice Advocate and that Advocate was still able to challenge Dr. Jacobs’s credibility. Thus, [the trial judge] did not abuse [her] discretion by giving a limiting instruction to the jury concerning Dr. Jacobs’ testimony and in allowing him to testify as an expert in Binkowski’s case.”

Further, the appellate court wrote that the jury’s $1 award of damages under the Illinois Survival Act was supported by the case’s evidence. The opinion stated that the $4 million awarded to Binkowski and her children for loss of society, grief, sorrow, and mental suffering was not excessive. The Illinois Appellate Court affirmed the trial judge’s judgment.

The attorneys successfully handling this tragic case for the Binkowski family were David R. Nordwall, Elizabeth A. Kaveny and Ava B. Gehringer.

Binkowski v. International Health Systems, Inc., 2014 IL App (1st) 221557.

Kreisman Law Offices has been handling wrongful death lawsuits, hospital negligence cases, psychiatric negligence lawsuits, birth injury cases, and physician negligence cases 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 49 years in and around Chicago, Cook County and its surrounding areas, including Oak Park, Brookfield, Burbank, Evergreen Park, Westmont, Glencoe, Prospect Heights, South Barrington, Hoffman Estates, Arlington Heights, Lake Bluff, Chicago (Edgewater, Lincoln Square, Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Logan Square, Streeterville, Little Village, Chinatown, Wrigleyville, Hyde Park, Bronzeville, Brighton Park), Cicero, Forest Park and Crestwood, Ill.

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