Medical malpractice is professional negligence by a health care provider in which the treatment provided falls below the accepted standard in the medical community and causes injury or death to the patient.  When this happens, the patient has a right to receive compensation.  The laws, regulations, and compensation for medical malpractice vary dramatically from state-to-state, which is why Taos Injury Lawyers are licensed in states throughout the U.S.

Below, we’ve compiled the states & details of some of the largest medical malpractice payouts in the last 10 years (sourced from Lexis Nexis and Lawyers and Settlements):

1. Maryland: Johns Hopkins Hospital agreed to a $190 million settlement with more than 9,000 plaintiffs in 2014 after it had failed to properly supervise Dr. Nikita Levy, a gynecologist employed at the hospital from 1988 to 2013. Dr. Levy used surveillance equipment, such as a camera pen, to secretly photograph his patients (he was fired in 2013).

2. New York: The City of New York and EMS paid $172 million in 2014 to Tiffany Applewhite. Responding to a 9-1-1 call in 1998, the EMS ambulance was not equipped with advanced life support equipment. Delays in transporting 12-year-old Tiffany to the hospital left her paralyzed with severe brain damage. The jury award included compensation medical expenses, past and future pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment.

3. New York: Dr. Shahram Razman and St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Westchester paid $77 million to the family of a 3-year-old boy in 2009 after unnecessary delays during childbirth. This left the child with cerebral palsy due to insufficient oxygen supply to the brain.

4. California: Winthrop University Hospital in Los Angeles paid $62 million to Stacey Galette in 2014. Galette underwent surgery for ectopic pregnancy. After surgery, Galette spent months in intensive care and suffered three cardiac arrests, ending up with a colostomy, skin grafts, and bilateral below-the-knee amputations.

5. New York: Dr. Ferdinand A. Ofodile, a Queens County plastic surgeon paid $60 million to Allison Hugh in 2010 after a botched thigh lift procedure left her with permanent deformities of the labia of her vagina.

6. Florida: Dr. Andrew D. Weiss paid $37 million to Kathleen Ramey in 2010 as compensation for permanent injuries resulting from a steroid injection into the spine. This formed a fluid-filled cavity and it’s expected that the weakness in her legs will eventually leave her unable to walk.

7. Rhode Island: Taos’ own Mark Mandell was on a team that received a $31.5 million negligence judgement- the largest in Rhode Island history. The claim was against Rhode Island Hospital and its employees and agents for negligently failing to identify and treat clear signs of increasing intracranial pressure. Due to the hospitals negligence, Mr. Beauchamp suffered a brain stem herniation with resulting widespread, severe and permanent brain injury.

8. Florida: Two physicians at Tampa’s Memorial Hospital settled a $30 million lawsuit with Sally Lucia in 2007. Ms. Lucia lost all of her fingers and a large part of her legs following medical negligence in the treatment of an infection after a tummy tuck procedure.

9. Illinois: Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago paid $29.1 million to Christian Arroyo in 2010 for negligence in obstetric and neonatal care at the time of his birth. Christian’s mother did not receive the necessary antibiotics, leading to infection and permanent brain damage in her baby, who remains tube fed and wheelchair bound.

10. Pennsylvania: Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia paid a $19 million settlement to Ronald Campbell in 2011 for untreated hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Despite three severe episodes in two days, Campbell was discharged at midnight and later suffered permanent brain damage.

If you were injured or have questions, contact a Taos Injury Lawyer for advice from some of the most well-educated, well-written, and well-read trial lawyers in the country.