Sarah F. King
A Cook County jury has awarded $3.3 million to the estate of a man whose kidneys failed after receiving 10 times the amount ordered of an antiviral medication during a hospital stay.
The verdict came Wednesday in plaintiff Kathryn Howe-Vandelinder’s medical-malpractice case. She sued Northwestern Memorial Hospital in 2012, alleging the physicians who treated her husband Michael negligently administered the overdose, which led to his death in August 2010.
Michael Vandelinder — a 55-year-old at the time whose leukemia was in full remission — traveled to Northwestern in late July 2010 for treatment of an infection he suffered after receiving a bone marrow transplant to treat his cancer.
As part of his treatment, physicians ordered in early August 2010 that Vandelinder receive 2,400 milligrams of the antiviral medication Foscarnet. The drug is typically used with patients whose immune systems have been suppressed, said Sarah F. King, an associate at Clifford Law Offices who represented the estate.
But Vandelinder instead received a 24,000-milligram dose over the course of an hour — the normal time frame by which he should have received the 2,400 milligrams, King said.
“It was a pharmacy mess up. The order was fine,” she said. “He got a massive dose in a really, really short time.”
King said Vandelinder experienced an immediate adverse reaction during the drug’s infusion as he began to feel numb and tingly, got cold and tried to throw up. His kidneys began to fail in the following days, she said.
The antiviral drug comes with a black box warning that it primarily harms the kidneys should an overdose occur, King said.
Vandelinder was placed on dialysis for about 12 days after the overdose, but he eventually died at 56 in mid-August 2010, said Keith A. Hebeisen, a partner at Clifford Law who also represented his estate.
Filed in July 2012 in Cook County Circuit Court, Howe-Vandelinder’s lawsuit alleged the hospital — through its employees and agents — negligently administered the overdose, which caused his kidney failure and led to his death.
The hospital initially denied any negligence but eventually admitted the error in an amended answer. But the defendant denied that the overdose caused Vandelinder’s death.
Donohue, Brown, Mathewson & Smyth LLC partner John M. McGarry represented Northwestern Memorial with associate Meagan P. VanderWeele. McGarry declined to comment.
The parties proceeded to a one-week trial before Circuit Judge Donald J. Suriano over causation and the extent of Vandelinder’s injury, King said. By the end of the trial, she said, the hospital also admitted the overdose proximately caused his injury — though it disputed which injury it caused.
“They thought it was just the adverse effects he experienced on the first day,” King said.
The jury awarded Vandelinder’s estate $1.5 million for the pain and suffering he experienced as a result of his injury; $500,000 for the emotional distress he experienced; $500,000 for his wife’s loss of society; $500,000 for her grief, sorrow and mental suffering; and $300,000 for the loss of money, benefits, goods and services he customarily contributed in the past.
King said despite being pleased with the verdict, Vandelinder’s family members wish they could have their dad and husband back.
“But I think they are very grateful the jury heard their story and did the right thing,” she said. “There was no dispute through the trial that this was a wonderful man. He was a really cool dad.”
The case is Kathryn Howe-Vandelinder v. Northwestern Memorial Hospital, 12 L 8187.