Trial Spotlight: Not Guilty Verdict for $9.5 Million Claim of Misdiagnosis and Improper Administration of Drug Leading to Massive Stroke

Hinshaw partners Diane Webster and Kellie Mazzarella recently obtained a complete defense verdict on behalf of an emergency medicine physician and his group in DuPage County.

Plaintiff had alleged that the defendant emergency medicine physician misdiagnosed the 41 year old man with hypertensive emergency and consequently administered the wrong medication Nitroprusside, a very potent vasodilator, which caused him to drop his blood pressure by 67 points and to suffer a massive stroke 18 hours later. Hinshaw's legal team argued that the plaintiff's known risk factors, coupled with medication noncompliance, was the sole proximate cause of the stroke. Plaintiff asked the jury for $9.5 million, and the jury returned a not guilty verdict in favor of the defendant emergency medicine physician and his group in just over 60 minutes.