CASE REPORT
(19 MR/1) MEDICAL MALPRACTICE--ANESTHESIA ERROR CAUSES DEATH--ADMITTED LIABILITY (12A) Estate of Lowell Williamson, deceased v Marion Hospital Corp., d/b/a Heartland Re- gional Medical Center, Mary Bigongiari, C.R.N.A., Dr. Danuta Gwarnicka, Anesthesia Associates of Southern Illinois LLC, d/b/a Dr. Roodman & Associates 14L-86 Tried Mar. 15-20, 2019 VERDICT: $8,500,000 v all defts ($3,000,000 grief and sorrow; $5,250,000 loss of society; $250,000 loss of normal life).
Bradley M. Cosgrove Bradley M. Cosgrove, partner at Clifford Law Offices, has been recognized as the “Law - yer of the Year” in Medical Malpractice in 2023 by Best Lawyers. In 2024, Lawdragon named him one of the 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers in the country. He is a member of the Inner Circle of Advocates that names the best 100 plaintiffs lawyers in the U.S. He is an Illinois Super Lawyer, Lead - ing Lawyer and the National Trial Lawyers named him one of the Top 100 Lawyers in the country. Brad is an experienced trial at - torney in the areas of medical malpractice, trucking accidents, automobile collisions, personal injury and wrongful death who be - lieves that results speak for themselves. To date in 2024, Brad has achieved more than $84 million in verdicts and reported settlements. He has received many record verdicts over the years in the state includ - ing a $101 million record verdict on behalf of a baby who was brain damaged at birth, a $40 million record verdict on behalf of a 37-year-old man who suffered from a hyper - tensive stroke as a result of a physician’s failure to properly diagnose, manage and treat his high blood pressure, and a $21.5 million record verdict for a 6-year-old boy who drowned while at a public pool during a summer day camp. He gives back to the profession and to the community through his work as a leader of the Chicago Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association and the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association serving on its Board of Managers, as well as through the Wound - ed Warrior projects that helps veterans and their families.
JUDGE : Brad Bleyer (IL, Williamson 1st Jud Cir)
PLTF ATTY(S): Bradley M. Cosgrove, Charles R. Haskins of Clifford Law Offices (Chicago, IL), Mark D. Prince of Prince Law Firm (Marion, IL) DEMAND: $12,000,000 DEFT ATTY(S) : Richard J. Behr of Behr, McCarter & Potter (St. Louis, MO) for Marion Hospital Corp., Heartland Regional Medical Center (Self-Insured) OFFER: $2,000,000 - $8,000,000 total high/low; Jeffrey R. Glass, Madelyn J. Lamb of Hinshaw & Culbertson (Belleville, IL) for Mary Bigongiari, C.R.N.A. (Medical Pro- tective); Adrian E. Harless of Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen (Springfield, IL) for Dr. Danuta Gwarnicka (Medical Protective); Ted W. Dennis of Freeark, Harvey & Men- dillo (Belleville, IL) for Anesthesia Associates of Southern Illinois LLC, Dr. Roodman & Associates (Medical Protective)
PLTF MEDL: Dr. Medhat Elsherbini (Pulmonologist)
On August 12, 2013, Lowell Williamson went to Heartland Regional Medical Center for elective shoulder surgery due to arthritis pain. Lowell M-60, an I.T. consultant at Southern Illinois University, was considered high risk because he was on blood pressure medication (Losartan) at the time and had taken it earlier that morning. Despite this high risk, there was no physician anesthesiologist present at the time of the procedure. Deft Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist Mary Bigongiari and other hospital employees administered a lethal dose of Sevoflurane gas (general anesthesia), which caused Lowell’s blood pressure to severely drop. He became dangerously hypotensive and hypoxic. Personnel failed to revive him and he was declared brain dead. Lowell passed away on August 19, 2013, survived by his wife and two adult daughters. The on-call anesthesiologist (deft Dr. Gwarnicka) took 55 minutes to respond after multiple contact attempts from Bigongiari and the staff present during the surgery. Dr. Gwarnicka claimed to be attending to another emergency during that time, which hospital records refute. The estate argued that defts failed to properly monitor Lowell or examine his records both before and during surgery, defts should not have let him undergo the surgery because he took his blood pressure medication earlier that day, defts failed to respond to a clearly urgent situation, his doctors did not formulate a specific plan for anesthesia, and no doctors made themselves available during anesthesia - in violation of state law. The defense admitted liability at the start of the trial, which precluded the jury from hearing the full case facts. No experts were called at trial. The jury deliber- ated three hours. This award is the highest Williamson County verdict or settle- ment reported in JVR records. On May 20, 2019, the defts reached a settlement
JURY VERDICT REPORTER • 2024 ANNUAL TRIAL LAWYER EXCELLENCE AWARDS 13
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