On August 31, 2026, Levin & Perconti attorneys Gabriel Aprati and Nicholas Emerson secured a $2 million verdict against Elmhurst Memorial Hospital on behalf of a patient who developed a catastrophic pressure injury following hip replacement surgery. Our client’s resulting wound required four operations, over 300 wound clinic visits, and did not fully close for three and a half years. The hospital made no offer to settle before trial.
What Happened
Our client arrived at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital in July 2020 for a planned right hip replacement. He came to the hospital with a complex medical history the hospital knew about in advance: a left below-knee amputation, chronic back pain, and other serious conditions. The hospital reviewed his records, accepted him as a surgical candidate, and performed the procedure on July 20, 2020.
In the days immediately after surgery, our client could not move himself in the hospital bed, having no left leg to push off with. His right hip had just been operated on. His shoulder problems limited his ability to pull himself up with his arms. Our client was unable to reposition himself, something that typically happens automatically for people in proper health. However, due to his limitations, he was unable to turn, putting him at a high risk for pressure sores. The hospital made note of this.
On July 26th, six days after surgery, a nurse identified a deep tissue injury on our client’s backside. By the time a pressure injury becomes visible on the surface of the skin, the damage has already been forming from the inside out. The question was not what happened on July 26th; it was what had been happening in the six days before it.
A Wound That Went Unexamined for Two Days
The hospital’s response to the identified injury compounded the failure. The wound was identified on the morning of July 26th, but the order for a wound care specialist was not entered until that evening. The wound care nurse did not arrive until the following afternoon. When she did, she noted that our client had refused to let her examine the wound and left. The wound on his body was not examined until July 28th: two days after it was found.
What the wound care nurse did not know when she concluded that our client was refusing care was that the hospital’s own nurses had been documenting his confusion for days. He was on multiple strong narcotic medications for pain from the hip surgery and did not remember most of his admission. Had the wound care nurse read his chart when she was in his room, she would have known his pain scores, what medications he was on, and how they were affecting him.
Our attorneys argued that our client’s alleged refusal of treatment was not the end of the nurse’s responsibility; it was the beginning of it. If a patient refuses treatment, it is the nurse’s responsibility to understand why. Our client’s injury was written off by a system that stopped trying.
“A patient’s refusal of treatment is not a nurse’s exit from responsibility — it is a signal to investigate further. The evidence showed that our client was confused and heavily medicated when that refusal was recorded. The standard of care required someone to find out why. No one did.”
Three and a Half Years of Consequences
With the pressure injury now formed, our client was then transferred to a rehabilitation hospital on July 30th, 2020. He left that facility on August 14th with an open wound on his backside.
What followed was a series of grueling surgeries that our client suffered as a result of the hospital’s negligence. That wound did not close for three and a half years.
In November 2020, a surgeon cut into the infected wound down to the muscle. When the procedure was complete, the defect in our client’s backside was roughly four inches across and seven inches deep.
Two months later, the surgeon operated again after the wound became infected. This time, cutting down past the muscle to the bone. Our client was hospitalized for nearly a month.
In July 2021, a third surgery was performed in attempts to heal the wound.
In July 2023, three years after the hip replacement, the surgeon operated a fourth time. By then, the wound had developed into what he described as a chronic sinus: a tunnel into our client’s body that would not close despite every intervention attempted.
Between late 2020 and late 2023, our client visited a wound clinic over 300 times. Roughly 53 of those visits involved surgical debridement cutting into or scraping the wound to remove dead tissue.
“The hospital assessed this man as high risk for skin breakdown every single day after his surgery and documented it in their own chart. This verdict reflects what it means when that knowledge does not translate into action. Our client needed help and unfortunately that help was not provided”
The Verdict
The jury returned a $2 million verdict against Elmhurst Memorial Hospital within a day of closing arguments. The hospital had made no offer to resolve the case before trial.
This case began with a man who went to a hospital for a planned surgery and left with a wound that consumed the next three and a half years of his life. The hospital had every piece of information it needed to prevent what happened. They failed him. While no verdict can undo more than three years of pain and suffering, this result holds the hospital accountable for their negligence, eases the financial burden these injuries created, and allows our client to move forward.
How We Can Help You
If you or a loved one has suffered harm due to medical negligence, Levin & Perconti offers experienced legal support:
Free Case Evaluation: We listen carefully and assess your claim with no obligation.
Medical Malpractice Expertise: Our attorneys specialize in medical negligence, healthcare errors, and patient advocacy.
Dedicated Support: We fight for the full compensation and care you and your family deserve.
Contact us today to schedule your free consultation.
