$28.7 Million Verdict After Hospital Discharged Vomiting Patient With Dangerously Abnormal Labs
Won by Romanucci & Blandin.
A Cook County jury awarded $28.7 million to the family of Jennifer Arrington-Cutaia, a 44-year-old Franklin Park woman who died after Gottlieb Memorial Hospital discharged her with a severely elevated white blood cell count and other abnormal lab values despite active Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome.
What happened
Jennifer Arrington-Cutaia, 44, of Franklin Park, Illinois, had a documented history of Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome, a condition that triggers severe, recurrent episodes of vomiting and carries a serious risk of dehydration if fluids are not adequately replaced. On May 3, 2016, during a severe episode, she was admitted to Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park, a facility then part of the Loyola University Health System.
After four days, her treating physician, Dr. Lisa Liu, discharged Arrington-Cutaia despite lab results that showed an extremely elevated white blood cell count and other markers consistent with severe dehydration and hypovolemia. According to trial testimony, Dr. Liu acknowledged she did not know how to address the patient's ongoing symptoms and obtained no specialist consultations before sending her home.
Arrington-Cutaia collapsed at home the same day from hypovolemic shock. She was rushed back to the hospital in critical condition. The oxygen deprivation caused by the shock led to bowel death, and she required extensive treatment over the following nine months before dying of complications from her injuries. She was married and had one adult daughter.
Her husband, Lou Cutaia, filed suit against Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, Loyola University Medical Center, and Dr. Liu, asserting wrongful death and survival claims. The central allegations were premature discharge, failure to adequately rehydrate, failure to consult specialists, and failure to act on the abnormal laboratory findings that were present at the time she was sent home.
Joseph Kolar of Romanucci and Blandin tried the case in Chicago's Daley Center beginning April 24, 2023. Defendants reportedly offered $1.5 million before trial and defense counsel suggested $7 to $9 million during trial. On May 8, 2023, after roughly three hours of deliberations, the jury returned a verdict of $28,794,326. No post-trial reduction or remittitur was reported in available coverage.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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