$4,500,000.00 – Brain Damage, Total Paralysis of All Movement and Function

F&F# A01044

Settlement: $4,500,000

Injuries: Brain Damage, Total Paralysis of All Movement and Function

Facts and Claim of Liability:

On January 25, 2001, plaintiff was at home with his wife when he began to feel ill. He began to think he was having a cerebral attack, as his mouth felt “numb” but he could still speak, somewhat. His wife took him to Defendant Hospital Maimonides Medical Center. Plaintiff was duly examined. Hospital staff told him that his symptoms were likely merely due to his having high cholesterol. However, he remained in defendant hospital while hospital staff continued to monitor him.

The next day, on January 26, the entire right side of plaintiff’s body went numb, and he was unable to move it.

On January 27, plaintiff began to shake as though he was having a convulsion. His wife called for the hospital staff, but no one arrived for some time, and plaintiff’s eyes had already rolled back into his head. Plaintiff mother recalls that once hospital staff arrived, one of them gave him some sort of injection. He then slipped into a coma for approximately ten days.

Ultimately, plaintiff’s wife was told that plaintiff had suffered a series of strokes.

When plaintiff woke from the coma, he was unable to speak or move. Currently, he can only communicate via eye movements. He is not expected to recover from his current condition.

Fitzgerald & Fitzgerald filed suit in Kings County Supreme Court, arguing that defendant hospital departed from good and accepted medical practice in the care of plaintiff in negligently failing to recognize the signs and symptoms consistent with an impending stroke, which resulted in severe and permanent injuries to plaintiff. Ultimately, Fitzgerald & Fitzgerald settled with defendant for a total of $4,500,000.00.

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