California Medical Malpractice Law Blog

To this day, many front line physicians do not know of the long-standing guidelines setting forth that some patients at risk for stroke who are chronically anticoagulated with coumadin should receive lovenox as a bridging therapy to prevent a recurrent thromboembolism. As such, many patients suffer devastating strokes as a result. Some of these people, unfortunately end up as plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases. Hopefully the stories of these unfortunate vicitms of malpractice will serve to educate the medical community on the importance of following published guidelines to prevent stroke.

Jeffrey S Mitchell

$21 million - Largest California verdict (non-punitive) for single individual, including interest and costs.

We represented a 56-year-old woman who was injured when her car was struck from behind by a Mack truck at the Fourth Street off-ramp off Highway 280 in San Francisco. She was waiting at a stop light when the truck hit the car behind her and then pushed her car into the car in front of her. The driver of the truck claimed that his brakes failed at the last minute. At the scene of the accident she did not seem to be seriously injured; nevertheless, she was taken to the hospital where they discovered she was bleeding into her brain. She was admitted to the hospital for an emergency craniotomy to evacuate a large subdural hematoma. She was in a coma for three days and woke to a partial paralysis. Several months later she had recovered her motor abilities, but had residual cognitive deficits including memory, concentration and the ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. She attempted to return to work eight months after the accident as an executive search recruiter, however she was unable to perform the demanding aspects of her job. The defense contended that she was obviously bright, articulate and therefore should be able to work. They also contended that the brake failure could not have been anticipated. We convinced the jury that she was not able to return to her previous employment and there was not a brake failure. The defendant offered $3,500,000 in settlement, which was rejected. The jury awarded $19,631,000. The judgment was entered for this amount plus past interest and costs for a total of $21,000,000. Our investigation indicates that this may be the largest net compensatory (non punitive) award of its type for an individual in California state history.

Personal injury law is designed to provide financial protection for individuals who have suffered catastrophic injuries, such as brain injury or spinal cord injury, due to the negligent or wrongful actions of another individual or entity. Many injuries can be classified as personal injury, and our San Francisco personal injury law firm has experience litigating most types of personal injury cases.

While there are many types of personal injury cases, the most common include automobile accidents, premises liability, and defective products. Many of these cases involve the victim suffering severe physical devastation, often in the form of brain injury or spinal cord injury. San Francisco attorneys at Bostwick, Peterson & Mitchell believe that if another citizen, business owner, or organization is responsible for the injuries sustained by the victim, the negligent entity should be held liable for the victim’s losses – financial and emotional.

Please contact our San Francisco personal injury law firm today if you have suffered an injury due to the negligent or wrongful acts of another.

Spinal Cord Injury
Traumatic Brain Injury
Automobile Accidents
Products Liability
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