$49.25 Million Verdict for Machinist Who Lost Most of His Bowel to Sepsis After Gallbladder Surgery

Joseph Browning was a 42-year-old machinist when he arrived at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital on February 10, 2015, with pain in his side and back. Imaging showed an inflamed gallbladder. The next evening, surgeon Dr. Daniel Resnick removed it through a laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Within a day, Browning was in trouble. His blood pressure dropped, his heart rhythm turned irregular, and his abdomen hurt. He was moved to the intensive care unit with suspected sepsis and started on broad-spectrum antibiotics. He stayed there for almost two weeks while his doctors debated where the infection was coming from. They agreed it was intra-abdominal but disagreed on the source. His primary care physician suspected a surgical complication and asked the surgical team to reevaluate him. The surgical team considered the abdomen unlikely and recommended continued monitoring instead of surgery.

The warning signs kept arriving. On February 13, Browning became unstable and had to be intubated, and fluid drawn from his abdomen tested positive for two types of bacteria, indicating peritonitis. A February 20 CT scan showed a dilated small bowel and a possible perforation, yet Dr. Resnick doubted further surgery would help because Browning seemed to be improving. On February 23, the abdominal fluid contained blood and bacteria, and a new scan showed free air in the abdomen. Only then, on February 24, 11 days after the gallbladder removal, did Resnick perform exploratory surgery. He found nearly all of the small bowel ischemic and necrotic. Surgeries over the following weeks removed most of Browning's bowel and part of his stomach and located a perforation in his sigmoid colon. Nearly two months later, Browning underwent a bowel transplant at a hospital unaffiliated with Advocate.

Sharon L. Heath and Timothy W. Heath of Heath & Heath, P.C. in Naperville represented the Brownings, who sued Advocate Health and Hospital Corporation and Dr. Resnick in the Circuit Court of Cook County in 2016. The complaint alleged the defendants knew or should have known the sepsis was a postoperative complication and violated the standard of care by failing to order timely imaging, consult a gastroenterologist, or operate before the bowel was damaged beyond repair. The defense answered that the care met the standard and blamed the injuries on a gastric bypass Browning had in 2013.

Trial began on February 15, 2022, before Judge John P. Kirby and ran four weeks. The jury returned a verdict of $49.25 million, covering medical costs, pain and suffering, lost earnings, and related damages. The parties later stipulated to a $2 million reduction under an Illinois statute governing paid medical costs, and the court added prejudgment interest to the final judgment.

Advocate and Resnick appealed, arguing the trial court wrongly let the Brownings read treating physicians' discovery depositions to the jury. On September 15, 2023, the Illinois Appellate Court, First District, affirmed the judgment in Browning v. Advocate Health and Hospital Corp., 2023 IL App (1st) 221430. Justice Hyman wrote that even where the defense identified evidentiary error, it never showed the outcome would have been different. Justice Lavin dissented. The verdict stands.