$4.1 Million Wrongful Death Settlement

A Jury awarded $4.1 million for a Waukegan family whose 75 year-old father died after a Victory Memorial Hospital Emergency Room physician failed to diagnose his abdominal aortic aneurysm. The Honorable Judge Terrence Brady, of the Circuit Court of Lake County , presided over the case.

On March 19, 1998, Valentin Rodriquez, 75, arrived at the Emergency Room at Victory Memorial Hospital in Waukegan , Illinois complaining of severe abdominal pain. He was seen by emergency room physician, Dr. Richard Viglione of Emergency Specialists of Illinois, P.C. After his initial examination, Dr. Viglione informed family members that their father had gastritis and a cardiac work-up was undertaken. Mr. Rodriquez continued to suffer for three hours which time he went into hypovolemic shock with his undiagnosed abdominal aortic aneurysm. Flight for life transferred Mr. Rodriquez to the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee where he case-resultsfully underwent surgery to repair his abdominal aneurysm. He subsequently died 3 1/2 weeks later of multi-system organ failure.

Michael P. Schostok of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C., represented the Plaintiffs who alleged that Dr. Viglione deviated from accepted standards of care by failing to consider and/or rule out Mr. Rodriguez’s abdominal aortic aneurysm, which was readily diagnosable. Dr. Viglione claimed that he ordered a CT Scan to rule out an aneurysm and further claimed that the CT Scan was not performed because secretaries in the emergency room failed to put through his order. Attorneys for Victory Memorial Hospital denied that a CT Scan was ever ordered. The delay in diagnosis and treatment made his ultimate surgical repair uncase-resultsful which, contributed to his death on April 15, 1998.

“The longer his aneurysm remained unrepaired, the less chance Mr. Rodriguez had to make a full recovery when definitive treatment was finally provided,” said Michael P. Schostok. “This was a classic case of the failure to communicate between a physician and a secretarial staff resulting in an important test never being performed. Mr. Rodriguez was a well-respected man in his community and a loving father. Despite his age of 75, he had many years ahead of him had his condition been diagnosed. He will be greatly missed by all.”

Victory Memorial Hospital was found not guilty and the $4.1 Million verdict will be paid solely by Dr. Richard Viglione at Emergency Specialists of Illinois P.C.