Valenzuela Law Firm, PA | Trial Attorney
Attorney Henry E. Valenzuela

$1,240,000 Settlement in Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Action Against Physicians and Hospital for Failing to Timely Diagnose and Treat Cerebral Edema Following Neurosurgery

The decedent was a 44 year old wife and mother of two adult children with a preexisting history of a Chiara malformation which required corrective neurosurgery. After the surgery was performed, the decedent developed signs and symptoms of an electrolyte imbalance and cerebral edema, both known postoperative complications. Those symptoms were allowed to worsen to the point that the decedent developed a brain herniation which subsequently caused her death. The plaintiff alleged that the decedent’s treating physicians and ICU nurses negligently failed to appreciate the signs and symptoms of these developing postoperative complications and treat them before they caused the decedent’s brain herniation. The defendants denied they were negligent and denied they caused the decedent’s death. The defendants argued that the decedent developed an unpreventable and unpredictable blood clot to the brain which led to the brain herniation. The case settled for $1,240,000 against the physicians and hospital.