Missed diagnosis leads to $22.5 million IL judgment
A Chicago hospital is reeling from a jury’s order to pay a patient $22.5 million for missing a diagnosis of compartment syndrome and ultimately costing the man both of his legs.
A 12-person jury in Cook County, IL, recently awarded $22,565,618.98 to a 54-year-old Chicago man who had been treated at Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke’s Hospital in Chicago in January 1997.1 On Jan. 2, 1997, Taher Anjarwala, a Pakistani-American taxi driver, sought help at the emergency room at Rush North Shore Medical Center in Skokie, IL, and subsequently underwent coronary artery bypass surgery that same day. He was then transferred to Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center five days later, according to his attorneys, Tom Leahy, JD, and Peter D. Hoste, JD, of the Chicago law firm of Leahy & Hoste.
While at Rush-Presbyterian, Anjarwala developed swelling in his lower legs, resulting in compartment syndrome — a condition that causes muscle death in the calves. This problem went undiagnosed for two days, and by the time his legs were treated with a fasciotomy on the evening of Jan. 9, it was too late. Anjarwala’s legs had been severely damaged by the compartment syndrome, and both were amputated above the knees later that month.
When the patient sued Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center, the patient claimed that the hospital failed to make sure that an individual doctor was in charge of his care and that the compartment syndromes were not timely diagnosed and treated. The verdict was rendered against Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center; Timothy James, MD, a cardiac fellow; and Elaine Winkel, MD, a staff cardiologist. Two additional defendants, Cardiovascular Surgery Associates Inc., and Rush North Shore Medical Center, settled before the verdict for $350,000.
Reference
1. Taher Anjarwala and Sakina Anjarwala v. Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center, an Illinois Corporation, Timothy W. James, MD, Elaine M. Winkel, MD, Cardiovascular Surgery Associates, PC, an Illinois Corporation, and Rush North Shore Medical Center, an Illinois Corporation, No. 98 L 14068 [Cook County (IL), 2002].
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