$41.1 Million Verdict for Downstate Lawyer Whose Unmonitored Blood Thinner Led to a Catastrophic Stroke

Craig Pierce practiced law in Bushnell, a small town in western Illinois, and served on the local school board. In March 2016, at age 64, he was admitted to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria with pneumonia. During that hospitalization he developed an acute kidney injury and was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, a heart rhythm condition that sharply raises the risk of stroke. He went home with a prescription for Coumadin, a blood thinner, and orders for short-term outpatient dialysis at a Fresenius clinic in Macomb.

Coumadin only works within a narrow range, and patients on it need regular blood testing with dose adjustments to match. According to the evidence at trial, that never happened. Blood draws during Pierce's dialysis sessions showed his clotting levels were dangerously low, meaning the drug was not protecting him, yet his providers never increased the dose and no one established a protocol for monitoring the results. On April 13, 2016, four weeks after discharge, Pierce suffered a large right middle cerebral artery stroke that destroyed much of the right side of his brain. It left him paralyzed on his left side with severe cognitive deficits, unable to practice law or care for himself, and dependent on round-the-clock help from his wife Susan and their family.

Susan Pierce filed suit in Cook County, individually and as her husband's next friend. The defendants fought the venue, asking to transfer the case downstate to McDonough County, where the dialysis care took place. The circuit court refused, and in 2022 the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed that ruling in Pierce v. Cherukuri, keeping the trial in Chicago even though the underlying care occurred in Peoria, McDonough, and Knox Counties.

The case was tried over roughly a month in spring 2024, with Mark McKenna of Hurley McKenna & Mertz leading the trial team alongside Christopher Hurley and Clint Pierce. In May 2024 the jury found OSF HealthCare System, Fresenius Medical Care of Illinois, RenalCare Associates, and nephrologist Dr. Sudha Cherukuri liable and returned a verdict of $41,149,942. Of that, $35,149,942 went to Craig Pierce for his injuries and $6 million to Susan Pierce for her own losses, including the loss of her husband's services.

The firm and news reports described the award as the largest verdict in a stroke case in Illinois history, and the largest in the state for a medical malpractice plaintiff over age 70. Pierce was 72 when the verdict came in, eight years after the stroke.

OSF declined to comment after the verdict. McKenna told reporters he expected the hospital system to appeal, and the defendants retained that right. As of this writing, no appellate decision disturbing the verdict has been reported.