$1.65 Million Settlement for Wrongful Death of Patient Whose Needed Surgery Was Not Timely Scheduled

Sara Perez, 30, suffered a seizure and collapsed. She was admitted to a hospital where doctors diagnosed a noncancerous brain tumor. Upon discharge, Perez was referred to another medical center where a physician recommended surgery to remove the tumor. The next month, she underwent preoperative blood work and an MRI. A month after that, an anesthesiologist cleared Perez for surgery and she was told that the hospital would call her to schedule the procedure. However, the hospital did not call to schedule that surgery.

At the next physician appointment several months later, Perez signed a second consent form. Perez then underwent another battery of preoperative tests and again was cleared for surgery. Several more months passed. No surgery was scheduled.

The noncancerous tumor grew larger, and Perez suffered a second seizure and midline shift of her brain, which led to her death 13 months after the first seizure. Perez had been a customer service dispatcher earning $10 per hour and is survived by her husband and three young children.

The Perez family filed a lawsuit against the hospital claiming its failure to timely schedule Perez’s surgery led to her wrongful death. The lawsuit alleged that although Perez made several attempts to schedule the surgery, the hospital’s scheduling personnel did not follow through.

The delay in the surgery allowed Perez’s intracranial pressure to build, resulting in a brain herniation causing her untimely death.

The parties settled before trial for $1,650,000. The attorneys representing the Perez family were Nicholas Hutchinson and Thomas Johnston.

Kreisman Law Offices has been handling wrongful death cases, hospital negligence cases, misdiagnosed and mistreated brain tumor cases and medical malpractice cases for individuals and families who have been injured or killed by the negligence of a medical provider for more than 38 years, in and around Chicago, Cook County and its surrounding areas including, Chicago (Lakeview, Andersonville, Horner Park, Edison Park, Museum Campus, Near North Side, Buena Park, Bucktown, Bridgeport, Gold Coast, Englewood, Sauganash, South Loop, South Shore, Wrigleyville), Cicero, Des Plaines, Fox River Grove, Hinsdale, Joliet and Lisle, Ill.

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