Historic Medical Malpractice Cases

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Amongst the considerable amount of injustices we hear about every day, there are also many famous medical malpractice cases. Some are famous because of their historical significance, others are well known because of who was involved, and others gained significance due to the high settlement amount.

Most Common Kinds of Medical Malpractice Cases

Doctors most at risk of facing a medical malpractice lawsuit are OBGYNs and neurosurgeons, due to the sensitive nature of their work. Some of the most common types of medical malpractice suits are a result of:

• Birth injury
• Strokes
• Wrong-site surgery
• Medical equipment left inside the patient
• Anesthesia errors
• Wrong medication
• Wrong dosage
• Misdiagnosis
• Failure to diagnose

Birth injuries can often result in large payouts because they affect an entire lifetime and can severely damage the life of a child. They have the potential to leave them with both severe physical damage as well as brain damage. Birth injuries can also resolve themselves without medical attention, but severe nerve damage can have lifelong consequences.

Historic Cases

Medical malpractice cases have been around for over 800 years. The first documented medical malpractice case dates back to 1164 in the case of Everad vs. Hoskins. In this case, a servant and his master collected damages from a physician over “unwholesome medicine.”

The first medical malpractice case in the United States occurred back in 1794. It involved a man suing a doctor after the doctor performed an operation on his wife, resulting in her death on the operating table. Upon winning the case, he was awarded 40 English Pounds.

Celebrity Cases

Medical malpractice is something that celebrity status cannot help you avoid. There have been many celebrities over the years that suffered from well-documented cases related to medical malpractice. 

Michael Jackson

One of the most famous cases of malpractice involved one of the most notorious celebrities of all time. In the summer of 2009, Michael Jackson died due to a cocktail of drugs in his system, highlighted by the drug Propofol. Propofol is a powerful anesthetic normally used during surgery. 

Despite the strength of this drug and the wide range of side effects associated with the drug, Jackson’s personal in-house physician would frequently administer it to Jackson as a nighttime sleep aid.

In this case, the doctor was found to be so profoundly responsible for Jackson’s death, that criminal charges of manslaughter were brought against him, and no civil charges were pursued for medical malpractice.

Jackson’s doctor served four years in prison for manslaughter, was stripped of his medical license, and was ordered to pay $100 million to the Jackson family.

Joan Rivers

Another one of the most famous celebrity medical malpractice lawsuits in recent history revolved around the death of comedian Joan Rivers. Rivers went into a coma while undergoing a routine elective surgery on her throat and eventually died. 

Rivers had a reaction to the procedure and her vocal cords began to swell and plug off her airway. Doctors failed to notice her declining vital signs, and, as a result, she went into cardiac arrest and eventually a coma. A week later, Rivers died after being taken off of life support.

Rivers’ daughter, Melisa, brought a lawsuit against the doctors involved, and a settlement was reached a year later with the doctors taking full responsibility for their fault in her death.

Largest payouts

The largest amount awarded in a medical malpractice case was in July of 2019 in Baltimore to Erica Byrom, after her daughter suffered a brain injury during birth, which resulted in cerebral palsy. The jury awarded Byrom $229 million in damages. The judge in the case reduced that amount to $205 million due to a state cap on malpractice lawsuits.

Due to the reduction from the original award amount in the Byrom case, the largest amount paid to a victim remains the $216.7 million awarded to Allan Navarro in 2006. When brought into the emergency room with stroke-like symptoms, Navarro informed medical professionals of his family history of strokes. Despite that knowledge, he was misdiagnosed with sinusitis and given prescription painkillers. 

Because of the misdiagnosis, Navarro ended up with swelling in his brain and spent three months in a coma. He suffered damage to his cognitive abilities and is now in a wheelchair for the remainder of his life.

Seek Professional Guidance

Suffering due to medical malpractice can be extremely difficult to deal with, both for the toll it can take on the bodies and minds of the people involved, and the financial burden it can pose. If dealing with issues related to medical malpractice, make sure to hire a competent attorney to help you get the money you need and deserve.