Arizona Jury awards $11 million to PWRFL’s client in medical negligence case.
In February 2018, Oliver Jen and his family were escaping the Seattle gloom and vacationing with friends in Phoenix, Arizona. On the morning of February 19th Mr. Jen woke up with symptoms of a stroke and presented to Banner-University Medical Center Emergency Department.
Imaging confirmed that the Mr. Jen had suffered an ischemic stroke but there was no hemorrhaging. The ED doctor initiated stroke protocol and handed over care to the Stroke Team. Per hospital stroke protocol, a stroke patient is to be evaluated as soon as possible by the Stroke Team and given treatment, either in the form of tPA medicine or anti-platelet therapy, i.e., aspirin.
Instead of receiving a timely evaluation and treatment by the stroke team, the plaintiff sat in a hospital room for seven and half hours with no antiplatelet therapy; each team member assuming that the other had prescribed the necessary medication. Finally, late in the afternoon, during the first visit by the stroke neurologist, Mr. Jen’s condition deteriorated dramatically, and he was ultimately diagnosed with a second, more serious stroke. This second stroke cut off blood supply completely and resulted in a large right middle cerebral infarction.
PWRFL attorneys Mike Wampold and Felix Luna maintained that because the defendants failed to properly treat the plaintiff’s initial stroke, the second, more severe stroke developed. As a result of this negligence, the plaintiff has suffered permanent and life-altering injuries, including the development of a major seizure disorder. These injuries mean that Mr. Jen can no longer work or be the same doting husband and hands-on father he once was.
At trial, defendants denied any wrongdoing and maintained that they operated within the standard of care. They argued that Mr. Jen would have experienced a second stroke regardless of intervention. The jury disagreed and awarded damages to the family totaling $11 million.