A Cook County jury’s verdict in favor of the defendants in a medical negligence case has been overturned on appeal, granting the plaintiff a new trial. The complaint was filed by Lolita McCaley, the independent administrator of Marshana McCaley’s estate, against Dr. Polina Petrovic, Chicago Imaging Ltd., and Advocate Health and Hospitals Corporation on June 7, 2018.
The case centers around the tragic death of 17-year-old Marshana McCaley following a tonsillectomy. Twelve days after her surgery, she presented at Trinity Hospital with leg and buttock pain. A venous Doppler ultrasound interpreted by Dr. Petrovic showed no signs of blood clots, leading to her discharge with a diagnosis of muscle strain. Two days later, Marshana was found unconscious and later died after failing to regain consciousness.
Plaintiff Lolita McCaley argued that Dr. Petrovic’s misreading of the ultrasound led to an undiagnosed pulmonary embolism that caused Marshana’s death. During pretrial proceedings, expert witnesses for both sides presented conflicting theories: while plaintiff’s experts claimed a pulmonary embolism caused by an undetected blood clot led to Marshana’s death, defense experts argued it was due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy causing a heart attack.
The appellate court found that the trial court erred in barring rebuttal testimony from Dr. Aaron B. Waxman, who would have countered the defense’s cardiac theory with evidence supporting the pulmonary embolism cause of death. The exclusion of this testimony prevented the plaintiff from effectively rebutting the defense’s claims.
Plaintiff sought relief in various forms including compensatory damages for wrongful death and survival action claims but faced significant legal hurdles due to procedural rulings during pretrial and trial phases which were ultimately deemed erroneous by the appellate court.
This article was first published in Cook County Record.
