"Largest Settlements of 2003"

As listed in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, January, 19 2004

Lubin & Meyer Dominates with 9 Settlements of $1 Million or More

Related excerpts from Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly article

$3.25 million – Infant Severely Brain Damaged During Delivery
When the defendant's attempts to deliver the minor plaintiff by vacuum extraction failed after multiple attempts, the records indicate that the minor plaintiff was delivered after application of the forceps. An MRI taken approximately a week after the plaintiff's birth revealed that the minor plaintiff had suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage, or a brain bleed, which is most often associated with trauma to the head. The plaintiff contended that this was likely the result of the defendant's use of either the vacuum extractor or forceps or both.

$2.9 million – Coronary Bypass Graft Fails, Patient Dies
The 44-year-old male plaintiff's decedent underwent quadruple bypass surgery by the defendants on Oct. 20, 1988. Following the operation, the defendant surgeon left the decedent in the care of two residents. A nurse testified that she noticed changes in the decedent's follow-up EKGs, but that no steps were taken. The plaintiff claimed the decedent suffered cardiac arrest and died as a result of improper monitoring because ischemic changes and decreased cardiac output were not appropriately responded to.

$2.6 million – Pre-term Delivery Results in Brain Damaged Baby
This case involved a minor plaintiff who was 12 at the time of settlement. She was born at 25 weeks gestation and as a direct result was severely brain injured. The defendant was a maternal fetal medicine physician who assumed care for the plaintiff's mother during her fourth pregnancy. The plaintiff claimed the defendant physician failed to recommend a cervical cerclage for the mother, whose obstetrical history included prior loss due to an incompetent cervix and a prior successful pregnancy after placement of a cerclage.

$2.25 million – Hospital's Monitoring of Vital Signs Questioned
The plaintiff's decedent was a 57-year-old woman who presented to the hospital with complaints of pain on Feb. 14, 1999. The plaintiff alleged that due to improper monitoring of the decedent's vital signs, less than 24 hours after admission to the hospital the decedent suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest. She was resuscitated and transferred to another hospital, where further treatment measures were unsuccessful and she died. The defendants in this case were the covering physician, anesthesiologist and the nurses who cared for the patient during the course of her admission.

$2 million – Doctor Not Notified of Fetal Heart Rate Changes; Baby Born Brain Damaged
The plaintiff, who was 4 years old at the time of settlement, suffered from severe and permanent brain damage that the plaintiff claimed was a result of the substandard care rendered to his mother by the obstetrical nurse caring for her during labor and delivery on May 9, 1999. See more details in Medical Malpractice Settlement Report

$2 million – Patient Says Stroke Could Have Been Prevented
As early as 1986, the defendant cardiologist noted the plaintiff's history of atrial fibrillation and mitral valve prolapse. The defendant planned Digozin, cardioversion and Coumadin to treat the plaintiff's atrial fibrillation. Over the next nine years, the plaintiff became increasingly symptomatic as a result of his irregular heart rate. The plaintiff contended that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the care and treatment rendered to him by the defendant fell below the standard of care required of the average qualified cardiologist between Dec. 19, 1986 and Dec. 29, 1995, when he failed to order an echocardiogram to assess the plaintiff's reported mitral prolapse, symptomatic atrial fibrillation and unexplained syncopal events.

$2 million – Brain Aneurysm Was Treated As Infection
The plaintiffs brought this medical-malpractice action against two radiologists and their professional corporation. The plaintiffs contended that the defendant radiologists were negligent in failing to identify and report a calcified brain aneurysm visible on a CT scan taken on Sept. 12, 1999 and a follow-up MRI with contrast taken on Sept. 13, 1999.

$1.8 million – Infant Suffers from Asphyxia During Delivery
The plaintiff claimed the defendant was negligent when he failed to deliver the minor plaintiff sooner, and that this failure caused her to suffer from asphyxia during childbirth. The defendant claimed there was not justifiable basis for proceeding to a Caesarean-section delivery, and that he complied with the standard of care at all times.

$1.75 million – Baby Suffers Brain Injury During Colostomy Reversal
The family of a 7-year-old boy who was brain injured during surgery when he was 3 months old sued the attending anesthesiologist and an anesthesiology resident who provided care during a colostomy reversal. The plaintiffs claimed that the defendants failed to properly regulate the minor plaintiff's anesthesia during surgery and that he suffered sever and permanent brain injury as a result.

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