McKeen & Associates Secures 11 of the State’s Highest Settlements in 2014

Firm Lands Highest Medical Malpractice Settlement of the Year

Detroit – Jan. 27, 2015 – McKeen & Associates (www.mckeenassociates.com) figured prominently on Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s list of Michigan’s Million Dollar Verdicts and Settlements. The Detroit-based law firm specializing in birth trauma and medical malpractice cases landed 11 of the state’s highest settlements in 2014, including 40 percent of Michigan’s most lucrative medical malpractice agreements.

Firm settlements placing among the largest in the state include:

• No. 3—$7.5 million settlement of a case in which the patient became paraplegic as a result of the alleged failure to appreciate the signs of epidural hematoma after the patient underwent a successful spinal surgery. The settlement also ranked as Michigan’s highest medical malpractice settlement of the year.

• No. 9—$4.35 million settlement for the alleged inadvertent administration of Epinephrine by a resident to a 35-year-old mother during a liver transplant, causing the patient to arrest, suffer brain damage and die a month later.

• No. 10—$4.25 million settlement for alleged failure to recognize the signs of fetal distress and timely deliver the minor plaintiff prior to his suffering brain damage

• No. 11—$4.2 million settlement as a result of medical malpractice involving the alleged negligent failure to timely perform a C-section due to preeclampsia, a transverse lie presentation, and non-reassuring fetal heart tones

• No. 13—$4 million settlement for alleged failure to protect the plaintiff’s spinal cord during surgery to repair a coarctation of the aorta in a 44-year-old male

• No. 15—$3.8 million settlement due to the alleged injudicious use of Pitocin that resulted in excessive uterine activity and compressive ischemic encephalopathy

• No. 18—$2.75 million settlement for the alleged deficient monitoring in a cardiac case that led to the death of a 36-year-old husband and father of two teenage children.

• No. 31 (tie)—$1.8 million settlement in a case in the plaintiff alleged that defendants violated the standard of care by not offering a C-section to the plaintiff mother for fetal distress; for a lack of informed consent to use the vacuum, as plaintiff spoke only Arabic and no translator was provided; and defendant’s OB applying excessive traction to the fetal head after encountering shoulder dystocia.

• No. 33—$1.7 million settlement as a result of untimely diagnosis and repair of an iatrogenic bowel perforation that occurred during elective ventral hernia surgery

• No. 35—$1.5 million settlement for the alleged negligent monitoring and failure to advise the plaintiff’s neurosurgeon that led to increased intracranial pressure and prolonged cerebral edema and resulting in visual disturbance in both right vision fields.

• No. 44 (tie)—$1.25 million settlement for the alleged failure to timely diagnose a kidney stone and urinary tract infection in a 31-year-old mother of two children.

“To secure these settlements for our clients is testimony to the hard work of our staff and the experts we use,” said McKeen & Associates Founder and Managing Partner Brian McKeen. “While what we receive can never replace the loss of a loved one, or take away from a permanent injury, the goal is to do as much as possible within our civil justice system to provide them with full recompense.”

Since 2001, McKeen & Associates is a perennial leaders in top settlements, generating the year’s top verdict in Michigan four times, including securing the state’s largest medical malpractice verdict on record in 2001, when a jury rendered a verdict award of $55 million in the case of Hall v. Henry Ford Health System. The Detroit-based firm also topped all Michigan verdict awards in 2002, with an award of $22.5 million in the case of Blazo v. McLaren Regional Medical Center, et al; in 2006 with an award of $16 million in the case of Lowe v. Henry Ford Health System; and in 2007, with an award of $35 million in the case of Oppenheim v. Aeneas C. Guiney.

McKeen & Associates, P.C. is a leader in representing individuals injured by the negligence of others particularly in or by hospitals and physicians. In addition, McKeen & Associates, P.C. has successfully represented clients injured in a variety of other circumstances. Based in Detroit, McKeen & Associates represents clients in both federal and state courts brought throughout Michigan and the United States. For more information, visit www.mckeenassociates.com.