Corboy & Demetrio Obtains $4M for Scoliosis Patient Injured During Surgery

Corboy & Demetrio obtained a settlement of $4 million in a medical malpractice case on behalf of a 21-year-old patient who was admitted to a healthcare facility in the Western suburbs in 2011 for elective surgery to correct idiopathic scoliosis and suffered severe muscle weakness from the waist down.

The hospital was responsible for completing the surgery to correct a deformity using intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring.  However, additional trauma was caused to the patient’s spinal cord, going unnoticed by the doctor as the monitor lost signal for the last 25 minutes of the surgery.  Inadequate neuro-monitoring failed to alert the doctor he was in the wrong place with the probe, causing unnecessary additional injury to the patient’s spinal cord.  

Due to the spinal trauma, the plaintiff lost motor function below the waist.  Image studies confirmed trauma to her spinal cord.  

The surgeon and healthcare facility were both named defendants, and the settlement was obtained on May 4, 2016.