$1.2 Million Settlement for Failure to Treat Diabetes

A settlement for $1.2 million, the maximum amount of available insurance coverage, was reached by attorneys Mark W. Tanner and Daniel J. Mann during jury deliberations, in a claim against an internal medicine specialist who failed to properly treat the plaintiff’s diabetes. As a result of the defendant physician’s negligent failure to prescribe insulin, and control the plaintiff’s high blood pressure and cholesterol, the plaintiff developed kidney failure. The damages suffered by the plaintiff in this case included a kidney transplant, diabetic neuropathy, and a shortened life expectancy. The settlement was negotiated after a five-day trial while the jury was deliberating. Pursuant to the settlement agreement, the identity of the plaintiff and defendant cannot be disclosed.

At trial, Tanner and Mann utilized a “high tech” presentation, which permitted hundreds of pages of medical records, deposition testimony and exhibits to be immediately presented to the jury. Feldman Shepherd retained nationally renowned experts in the field of endocrinology and renal transplants to demonstrate the defendant physician’s negligence to the jury. Additionally, exhibits that demonstrated the uncontrolled blood pressure, sugar levels, and cholesterol were prepared by professional graphic illustrators, to easily demonstrate to the jury that the defendant physician should have been alerted to the plaintiff’s condition. Feldman Shepherd also retained one of the country’s foremost handwriting experts, to demonstrate that the defendant altered the chart in several critical areas.