Top Medical Malpractice Personal Injury Settlements

$40.35 Million Confidential Settlement After Missed Ribcage Finding Let Child's Cancer Reach Spinal Canal

A South Carolina family reached a confidential $40.35 million settlement, structured under a high-low agreement, after radiologists reading a newborn's early chest X-rays missed a ribcage deformity that turned out to be a sign of neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer that grew into the child's spinal canal and caused permanent paralysis before it was caught.

After trial: The settlement is confidential. No court, case number, or plaintiff name has been made public, and the claim that this is the largest personal injury settlement in South Carolina history comes from the firm rather than from independent verification.

$40 Million Settlement for Child Brain-Injured During PICC-Line Procedure at Highland Park Hospital

A 12-year-old girl suffered permanent, catastrophic brain damage after cardiac arrest during a PICC-line procedure at Highland Park Hospital, and Power Rogers secured a $40 million settlement that the Jury Verdict Reporter identified as the largest-ever Cook County recovery for a brain-injured minor.

$35.6 Million Settlement for Teen Brain-Damaged After Westchester Medical Center Failed to Treat Fracture

Kramer Dillof Livingston and Moore secured a $35.6 million pre-verdict settlement, the highest in New York State history at the time, for a teenager who suffered catastrophic brain damage after Westchester Medical Center failed to treat frontal sinus fractures sustained in a scooter collision.

$32.5 Million Settlement for Boy Left with Severe Brain Injury After Reading Hospital Birth

Ross Feller Casey secured a $32.5 million settlement against Reading Hospital after its labor and delivery team failed to recognize signs of intra-amniotic infection and delayed a C-section, leaving a boy born in 2018 with permanent hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

$30 Million Settlement After Surgeon Performed 25 Experimental Procedures on an Infant

Romanucci and Blandin recovered $30 million for a family whose infant son suffered permanent brain damage and cerebral palsy after a pediatric surgeon at Rush University Medical Center performed 25 experimental surgeries, severing the child's pulmonary artery during the final operation.

$22.5 Million After a Six-Week-Old Was Left Permanently Brain Damaged During Routine Spinal Surgery

A Fitchburg family recovered $22.5 million after their six-week-old son suffered permanent brain damage during surgery at UW Health's American Family Children's Hospital. The suit alleged an anesthesia resident failed to respond to prolonged low blood pressure readings. It is the second largest payment ever made by Wisconsin's Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund.

After trial: The settlement was paid through Wisconsin's Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund, the second largest payment in that fund's recorded history. Most of the money was placed in two accounts for the child's lifetime care.

$21.1 Million Settlement for a Woman Who Lost All Four Limbs After a Shingles Misdiagnosis

In 2011 Mardi Strong, a construction worker and a member of the Yakama Nation, went to the Alaska Native Medical Center's emergency room and family clinic three separate times with worsening cellulitis and early sepsis. Staff diagnosed shingles each time and sent her home. She returned in septic shock, dry gangrene set in, and all four of her limbs were amputated. Her Federal Tort Claims Act case was tried in March 2018 and settled for $21,100,000 while the parties waited for the judge's decision.

After trial: Settlement with the United States reached in October 2018, after a March 2018 bench trial and before the court ruled. It is final as agreed and no cap was applied. See more

$20 Million Settlement After NICU Feeding-Tube Error Left Premature Infant With Cerebral Palsy

A Southern California hospital agreed to the largest medical malpractice settlement in California history after a NICU nursing error with a feeding machine caused glucose overload and permanent brain damage in a five-week-premature newborn.

Xbox Designer Paralyzed After Overlake Hospital Missed Spinal Fracture Four Times: $20 Million Settlement

August de los Reyes, head of design for Microsoft's Xbox, was left permanently paralyzed from the chest down after Overlake Hospital staff failed to diagnose his spinal fracture across four emergency visits, and Luvera Law Firm secured a $20 million settlement that also required the hospital to partner with him on patient-safety reform.

$20 Million Cook County Settlement After Toddler's Heart Stopped Unnoticed for Five Minutes Post-Surgery

In December 2011 a 2-year-old boy went into cardiac arrest after surgery at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County to repair an undescended testicle. Doctors and nurses did not notice that his heart had stopped for about five minutes before starting CPR. The oxygen loss left him with permanent brain damage; he cannot walk or speak and needs round-the-clock nursing care. On February 5, 2013, the Cook County Board approved a $20 million settlement of the malpractice suit his mother filed, one of the largest in county history. Timothy Ashe represented the family.

After trial: The $20,000,000 settlement was approved by the Cook County Board of Commissioners on February 5, 2013, and is funded by the county. No appeal; the case resolved before trial.

Bomkamp v. Go Ends in $17.3 Million Settlement After a Splenectomy Left a Child With Permanent Brain Damage

A six-year-old girl suffered cardiac arrest and permanent brain damage when a surgeon used a morcellator he had never operated during a routine spleen removal, and the case settled for $17.3 million, the largest sum reported to the Wisconsin Law Journal in 2009.

$17 Million New Jersey Birth Injury Settlement Structured to Pay Out Roughly $27 Million to $37 Million

Daryl L. Zaslow of Eichen Crutchlow Zaslow settled a hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy birth injury case for $17,000,000, a portion of which purchased annuities that carry guaranteed payments of $18,502,301 and anticipated payments of $28,700,273. Judge James Den Uyl approved the terms on January 3, 2025.

After trial: A court-approved structured settlement, so there is no appeal. It was funded at $17 million; the annuities guarantee $18,502,301 and are anticipated to pay $28,700,273, putting the total value between roughly $27 million and $37 million.

$15 Million Settlement After Infant Dies During Sleep Study at Boston Children's Hospital

Lubin and Meyer secured a $15 million settlement for the family of six-month-old Jackson Kekula, who suffered catastrophic brain injury after going without oxygen for more than 20 minutes during a sleep study at Boston Children's Hospital and died 12 days later.

$11.5 Million FTCA Settlement for Navy Family After Birth Injury at Naval Hospital Guam

A federal judge approved an $11.5 million settlement for a Virginia Beach Navy family whose son was born with severe brain damage at U.S. Naval Hospital Guam in 2014, after attorneys Michael Imprevento and Kevin Biniazan sued the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act.

Tripler Army Medical Center Delivery Errors Yield $11 Million Federal Settlement for Brain-Damaged Infant

Davis Levin Livingston secured an $11 million federal settlement, requiring U.S. Attorney General approval, after Tripler Army Medical Center's cascading delivery-room errors, including a misplaced oxygen tube left in place for more than forty minutes, caused a newborn to develop spastic quadriplegia and cerebral palsy.

Twice-Missed Lung Infiltrate Leads to $10.5 Million Settlement Over New Jersey Lawyer's Death

Brian Coven, a transactional attorney who spent his entire career at Sills Cummis & Gross, went to Summit Medical Group with pneumonia symptoms in January 2019 and again in February 2020, and both chest X-rays showed a lung infiltrate that went unaddressed. He was not diagnosed with cancer until after later losing weight without explanation, and he died of the disease in 2024 at age 68. His estate sued Summit Medical Group and four of its physicians in Essex County, and the group agreed to pay $10.5 million on the physicians' behalf. David Mazie of Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman represented the estate.

After trial: This was a negotiated settlement, not a litigated verdict, and no appeal followed. New Jersey's lost-chance doctrine under Scafidi v. See more

$10.5 Million Settlement for Veteran in Kidney Failure After Three Years of VA-Prescribed Naproxen

A combat veteran developed end-stage renal disease after VA physicians at Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital prescribed Naproxen for three consecutive years, ignoring repeated warnings in his own medical records that NSAIDs would damage his kidneys; the case settled for $10.5 million, the largest FTCA settlement in Missouri history.

$10 Million Settlement for Toddler Who Lost Both Feet and a Hand After 5-Hour Wait in Sacramento ER

A two-year-old girl lost both feet, her left hand, and the fingers of her right hand after Methodist Hospital staff left her untreated in the ER for five hours with a Streptococcus A infection; Moseley Collins secured a $10 million settlement, among the largest medical malpractice recoveries in California history.

$10 Million Settlement for Boy Brain-Damaged When Heart-Lung Machine Lines Were Reversed in Surgery

A 10-year-old boy was left with severe brain damage after the arterial and venous lines of a heart-lung machine were connected in reverse during open-heart surgery, and Cannon & Dunphy resolved the case for $10 million, reported as the first eight-figure personal injury settlement in Wisconsin history.

$10 Million Settlement After a Hospital Morphine Overdose Caused Permanent Brain Damage to an Infant

A physician's morphine overdose left an 8-month-old boy at a La Crosse County, Wisconsin hospital with permanent brain damage, and the family's medical-malpractice claim resolved in a $10 million settlement handled by Cannon & Dunphy.