Judge declines to reduce $29M medical negligence verdict for Illinois man

Posted On:   24 April 2020

Illinois, US – 24th April, 2020: A federal judge on Wednesday declined to reduce her earlier $29.9 million verdict for an Illinois man who was forced to undergo a kidney transplant, saying that his health condition was the fault of an East St. Louis health clinic, not his.

In November a federal appeals court upheld U.S. District Court Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel's verdict, but said she should have compared Kevin Clanton's negligence and his understanding of his condition to that of a reasonable person in the same situation.

Defense lawyers argued Clanton skipped medical appointments and failed to take his medication, and was more than 50% negligent, which would have barred him from recovering any money.

Rosenstengel, in her ruling Wednesday, said that Clanton didn't understand his disease. Even if he was minimally responsible, that was dwarfed by the "overwhelming negligence" of a nurse at the clinic, she said. The nurse didn’t follow up on lab results, consult a doctor or fully explain Clanton’s condition, Rosenstengel wrote.

Clanton received a new kidney after being diagnosed with Stage V chronic kidney disease and spending two years on the transplant waiting list while on dialysis, and may need more transplants.

Source: https://www.mdjonline.com/neighbor_newspapers/extra/news/judge-declines-to-reduce-29m-medical-negligence-verdict-for-illinois-man/article_0af6ec79-b75e-5976-a7fb-fd4c69d052cc.html