Case Study: Record-Setting $120 Million Medical Malpractice Stroke Verdict — NY

By Ben Rubinowitz

There is a mantra in medicine that when dealing with a stroke “time is brain.“ What this means is that the sooner treatment is rendered to a patient the better the outcome. When a patient is brought into a hospital suffering from signs and symptoms of stroke it is essential that the patient receive appropriate care as soon as possible.

There are hospitals throughout the country, known as certified stroke centers, that are tasked with the responsibility of treating patients who have suffered from a stroke. The single most important factor in treating a stroke patient is time. Time matters. Time can make the difference between a good outcome and a bad one. Conversely, the failure to render timely care will result in disaster.

Ben Rubinowitz along with Richard Steigman and Jeffrey Bloom recently tried such a stroke case.

The facts were straightforward: A 41-year-old man collapsed in the middle of the night while at home. His wife immediately ran to help him and noticed that he was unconscious and had thrown up. She called 911 and the police and an ambulance arrived within 20 minutes. He was taken to a major hospital which was also a certified stroke center.

On the way to the hospital the ambulance attendants diagnosed him as suffering from a stroke. As soon as he was brought to the hospital the attendants notified the emergency room professionals of their diagnosis and within 1/2 hour he was brought in for a CAT scan. So far, so good. This was the correct protocol — to ensure that a CAT scan was timely conducted.

The problem had nothing to do with the timing of the CAT scan. But it has everything to do with those who would be reading and interpreting the CAT scan.

Unfortunately there was no attending physician in the hospital at this time (in the middle of the night). The only doctors on-call at this time were a first year neurology resident and a second year radiology resident. Both of these resident physicians improperly read the CAT scan and failed to note a severe blockage in one of the major arteries in the patient’s brain.

It wasn’t until 3 hours later that an attending neuroradiologist arrived and reviewed the CAT scan. Upon review, this neuroradiologist immediately diagnosed the blockage (a basilar artery occlusion) and directed that the patient be brought in for a procedure to remove the clot. This procedure, known as a thrombectomy, only took 10 minutes to remove the clot. The illustrations above, which were created for use at trial show normal brain anatomy, the offending clot and procedure that was necessary to remove the clot.

As with most strokes of this kind, time is brain. Approximately two million brain cells die per minute if the brain does not receive sufficient oxygen. More than 3 hours and 20 minutes had gone by since the CAT scans were improperly read. Two hundred million brain cells died during this three plus hour delay.

Unfortunately for the patient, he would never fully recover. Because the injury took place in the patient’s mid-brain he no longer had the ability to speak intelligently for more than 5 minutes. He had no long term memory. His short term memory was severely limited. He had no ability to communicate effectively with his wife and young children. He had no ability to work. The brain injuries were so severe that he will have to spend the rest of his life in an in-patient care facility.

The trial of this matter was highly contested. The defense argued that a significant amount of the brain injury occurred before the patient arrived at the hospital. They argued that the onset of the stroke (the last known well) might well have been hours before the patient’s wife called for help. The defense even brought in a neurologist, Dr Alan Segal, who testified that the majority of damage occurred before the patient arrived at the hospital.

On cross examination, however, Rubinowitz pointed out that Dr Segal has made millions of dollars testifying for the defense — that more than 99% of his work is for the defense and that he had given inconsistent testimony to the jury and that his opinions lacked a factual basis.

This case exemplifies the complex challenges often encountered in medical malpractice litigation, where expert testimony and careful cross-examination are critical to establishing accountability and proving causation

After a 6-week trial the jurors found for the plaintiff and awarded a record-setting verdict. $120 Million. This is the largest verdict ever in Westchester County, NY and the Number 1 Verdict in NY State in 2023.

→ See additional verdicts and settlements obtained by the attorneys at Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf.