By KATE SCHOTT
Law Bulletin staff writer
A record $19.4 million settlement has been
reached between a hospital and some of its
doctors, and a patient who suffered a brain
hemorrhage after undergoing a procedure to
relieve bleeding that caused pressure on his
brain.
The operation to relieve the chronic
subdural hematoma was performed Feb. 3,
1993, at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's
Medical Center.
Former investment broker Paul Wyatt, who
can no longer work, suffers speech
impairment and mild hemiparesis as a result
of the hemorrhage, according to the lawsuit.
The settlement is the highest recorded in
Cook County for a victim with those injuries,
according to John Kirkton, editor of the Jury
Verdict Reporter.
In 1992, Wyatt at the age of 30 was
named the youngest partner at the
investment banking firm of William Blair &
Co. He was making nearly $1 million a year,
according to plaintiff attorney Robert S.
Baizer of the Highland Park law firm of Baizer
& Kolar.
"He truly was the Michael Jordan of
institutional bond sales," Baizer said of Wyatt,
who was an avid golfer.
That year, while on a business trip in San
Antonio, Wyatt was robbed by men who
kicked him in the head. The men, Baizer said,
were never found by police.
When Wyatt returned to Chicago, he
experienced severe headaches caused by the
hematoma.
Doctors performed the procedure to relieve
the pressure, Baizer said, calling the
operation "a routine procedure usually done
by a resident."
But 11 hours after the surgery, while a
nurse was emptying and re-suctioning a drain
secured in his skull, Wyatt vomited and
experienced pain, Baizer said.
A few hours later, Baizer said, his client
suffered the first of two seizures, the result of
the intracerebral hemorrhage.
Baizer and attorneys Joseph E. Kolar and
Beth R. Prager, argued that doctors should
have clamped the drain and administered an
anti-convulsant medication sooner.
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Wyatt, now 39, is often "frustrated and
depressed," Baizer said.
"He has a lot of trouble finding words so
he'll speak very haltingly," Baizer said. "It's
horrible. There's just sort of a link missing."
Wyatt also suffers from complete numbness
on his right side.
The parties agreed to the settlement in the
third week of the emotional trial, Baizer said.
"Paul and [his wife] Linda were very very
difficult witnesses to put on," Baizer said. "I
had a lot of trouble keeping my composure."
The couple has three young children,
Baizer said.
AIG Insurance Co. will pay $17.5 million on
behalf of Rush, two doctors and a nurse, all
represented by R. Dennis Rasor and Amy H.
Kane of Anderson, Bennett & Partners.
Isthmus Insurance Co. will pay $1.9 on
behalf of the Associates in Neurosurgery and
a retired doctor, represented by Francis
Raymond Petrek Jr. and Luisa E Trujillo of
Bollinger, Ruberry & Garvey.
Petrek said the doctors did "an exemplary
job" and had no other choice but to perform
the procedure due to the severity of Wyatt's
head injuries.
"The only other option was to not de-
compress the swelling" which would have
resulted in the death of Wyatt, Petrek said.
Cook County Circuit Judge Jennifer
Duncan-Brice presided. The case is Wyatt v.
Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center
at al. No. 00 L 11508.
Reprinted with permission of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. |
