$3.25 Million Confidential Settlement for Girl Who Suffered Gentamicin Toxicity

Attorney Mark W. Tanner secured a $3.25 million settlement for a teenage girl who suffered from the toxic effects of the antibiotic gentamicin. Gentamicin, if not properly monitored and dosed, can damage the vestibular nerve, a nerve in the inner ear that controls our sense of balance. In this case, the client was suffering from a spinal infection following surgery and was being treated with gentamicin; however, the attending physicians failed to obtain routine blood tests to monitor the levels of gentamicin in their patient, and then at discharge, compounded their error by prescribing an excessive dose of the drug as an outpatient due to a mathematical miscalculation. As a consequence, the patient’s vestibular nerve was destroyed, leaving her with a lifelong sense of motion sickness and dizziness and causing profound tinnitus (a constant buzzing in the ear). The defendants contested these claims vigorously, and more than a dozen experts from around the country were expected to testify, when the case settled on the eve of trial. These settlement funds will assist our client in obtaining the lifelong care she will require as she battles to overcome her disability.