Jill M. Webb
Jill M. Webb

A woman has settled a lawsuit for $11 million in a case where her son’s heart has lacerated during a cardiac procedure, requiring a transplant.

Plaintiff Kelly Goranson sued physician Alexander Javois, his employer Midwest Pediatric Cardiology P.C. and Advocate Health and Hospitals Corp. in 2009, alleging Javois negligently used a wire during a 2005 heart procedure on her son Brendan, which lacerated the septum in his heart and caused a hole to form.

Brendan, who was 10 at the time of the incident, was born with congenital heart defects and had undergone three previous surgeries before he visited Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn for an interventional procedure on one of his heart valves, said Jill M. Webb, the principal attorney at Law Office of Jill M. Webb LLC who represented the plaintiff.

“They go in with a tiny tube and a wire in through your thigh or groin, and then they put it up through one of the blood vessels and into the heart and conduct the procedure.”

Doctors inflate a balloon inside the heart valve to expand it and help it function, Webb said.

“It’s supposed to be fairly low-risk,” she said.

During the procedure, Webb said, a small hole formed between the two bottom chambers of Brendan’s heart. By the next morning, she said, that hole had grown to the size of a quarter.

“We say the doctor wasn’t paying attention to the wire, and the wire cut and poked into that wall and created that hole,” Webb said.

Brendan had surgery the next morning in which a different physician repaired the hole and replaced his valve, but the physician experienced complications along the way.

What was anticipated to be an hourlong surgery lasted more than 10 hours, said Richard H. Donohue, a partner at Donohue, Brown, Mathewson & Smyth LLC who represented Javois and Midwest Pediatric.

The boy remained at the hospital for about 10 days before getting transferred to Children’s Memorial Hospital, where he underwent a heart transplant about a month after the incident.

“The plaintiff’s theory was had this hole not been created, this would not have happened when it did,” Donohue said. “They agreed that he would need a valve replacement, but they didn’t think he would have needed a transplant.”

Brendan’s body began rejecting its new heart about nine years after the procedure. He received a second heart transplant in July 2014.

Today, at 21, Webb said Goranson “looks and feels great” but is at a greater risk for infection or conditions such as osteoporosis or cancer because of the anti-rejection medication he’s required to take for the rest of his life.

“And statistically, people with heart transplants need another heart within 20 years,” she said. “Going forward, there’s a very high likelihood that the second heart would be rejected and then he would have to be listed for another transplant, which is tough.”

Filed in Cook County Circuit Court, the Goransons’ lawsuit alleged Brendan’s surgeon failed to properly perform the November 2005 procedure, failed to properly use the guide wire during the procedure and caused his ventricular septal defect.

The defendants denied the allegations, instead contending Goranson’s family history of heart problems paired with his already weak heart to cause the condition, Donohue said.

Webb said the defense’s argument was difficult to overcome when considered with the fact that all of the experts in the case agreed Brendan would have needed future open-heart surgery regardless of the incident at issue.

But she said she overcame it by presenting a published book chapter in which Javois wrote about the procedure.

“There are images. There are films from the procedure. You can see the wire,” Webb said. “He draws the conclusion that it was the wire and the position of the wire that caused it.”

The parties mediated the case earlier this year but did not reach an agreement to settle despite a combined $3 million offer, Webb said. She said they did not engage in any other negotiations until they appeared for trial before Circuit Judge Edward S. Harmening.

Both Webb and Donohue credited Harmening for his work in bringing the parties together while spending three days hearing arguments and ruling on motions in limine along with another two days selecting a jury.

“He’s got a very good perception of the problems that each side faces in a case,” Donohue said. “The judge knew that he eventually was going to have to talk to the family, and I think he had to convince them or at least let them know that there was a chance they could lose the case and get nothing.”

Donohue said although the case is a sad one, he is happy it settled and wishes the Goransons well.

Michael J. Borree, a partner at Donohue’s firm, also represented Javois and Midwest Pediatric.

Webb initially took the case while working for Phillips Law Offices. In a statement, her former firm said it is happy for Goranson and his family.

“This settlement is the product of six years of hard work, by our firm and we are pleased that Ms. Webb was able to bring the case to a favorable resolution,” the firm said in the statement.

Webb said she’s happy the case can now be behind the family, and it’s comforting to know Goranson will have the means to manage and maintain his health.

“He has to … deal with what’s happened to him, and with the trial he’s had to relive the past. That’s painful, so I think closure is a good thing,” she said. “There’s a lot of joy, I think, in knowing that there’s going to be money for Brendan for his future now, which is good.”

Johnson & Bell Ltd. shareholders Brian C. Fetzer and Tammy L. Wade represented Advocate Health and Hospitals Corp. — which contributed $9 million to the settlement. Neither attorney could be reached for comment.

Goranson was also represented by Jeffrey Erney, an associate at Webb’s firm, and Kevin C. Smith of Smith, Sersic in Munster, Ind.

The case is Kelly Goranson v. Alexander Javois, M.D., et al., 09 L 15981.