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Our client, a mother and hospital employee, arrived at a Brooklyn emergency room complaining of leg weakness, calf pain, and dangerously high blood pressure — a classic early warning sign of stroke. Despite these red flags, hospital staff did not perform a neurological work-up and sent her home the same evening with instructions to follow up with her doctor days later.
Overnight, her condition worsened. She returned by ambulance the next evening with facial drooping and arm weakness, and was diagnosed with an ischemic stroke that had gone untreated for more than 24 hours. The delay left her permanently paralyzed on one side, unable to walk, and dependent on round-the-clock family care.
Our attorneys argued that a simple bedside strength test would have revealed the asymmetric weakness that should have triggered a stroke code and immediate imaging. A Kings County jury agreed, finding the hospital liable for failing to diagnose and treat a preventable stroke, and returned a verdict of $6.69 million — including $4.01 million for past and future pain and suffering — in under two hours of deliberation.
