/PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — A Cook County jury has returned a verdict totaling $9,102,029 in favor of Plaintiffs Frederick Pleasant and Staci Walker in the medical malpractice case of Pleasant v. Sowade, Case No. 2024 L 007781 (Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois).
The Plaintiffs alleged that a 24-hour delay in diagnosing a rare intramedullary spinal cord injury at the T9 level of Mr. Pleasant’s spine resulted in a missed opportunity for timely treatment. Although surgical decompression was ultimately performed after the diagnosis was made, the Plaintiffs contended that the prolonged ischemia associated with the delay caused permanent spinal cord injury, leaving Mr. Pleasant a paraplegic.
The defense argued that Mr. Pleasant’s primary care doctor did not cause any delay in diagnosis. The defense further argued that even if an earlier diagnosis had occurred, the injury was not operable in a way that would have altered the outcome. Mr. Pleasant’s treating neurosurgeon testified that the chance that a prior diagnosis would change the outcome was less than five percent.
The two-week trial was presided over by the Honorable Eileen O’Connor and the verdict was obtained by trial attorneys Jay Paul Deratany and Thomas P. Routh. This verdict marks the first of many judicial collaborations between The Deratany Law Firm and Nolan Law Group, two highly respected plaintiff litigation firms with long-standing professional ties.
FUENTE Nolan Law Group