Celebrating Justice

Pat Flaherty and his partners recently secured justice for a deserving family shattered by medical negligence. On September 29, 2021, in conservative Winnebago County (Rockford), a jury awarded $7.7 million dollars in one of the largest medical negligence verdicts in Winnebago County history. Bloodied, scarred, but undeterred, Pat battled insurance funded interests for 2 ½ intense weeks before emerging victorious. The doctors denied responsibility and no settlement offers were made. The jurors were 12 strong men and women from the community who saw the truth through the smoke screen of distraction and misdirection. They stood tall through a long trial and through seven hours of deliberations. Those men and women are proof that the jury system is one of our most important safeguards against injustice.

The beneficiaries of the verdict were the family of a 33 year old woman who died from a thiamine or B1 vitamin deficiency after bariatric surgery. The deficiency put the patient into a coma where she remained until she died seven years later. The defendants were the bariatric surgeon and his practice group who failed to recognize, prevent, and treat the thiamine deficiency.