Since the beginning of 2023, Becker's has reported on four spine and orthopedic patients who have won multimillion-dollar verdicts against surgeons and health systems.
1. Former Philadelphia Eagles team captain Chris Maragos won a $43.5 million jury verdict in his lawsuit naming an orthopedic surgeon. The lawsuit alleged the medical team allowed him to advance his activities after the surgery, even though an MRI showed his knee wasn't improving, leading to a premature end to his NFL career.
2. A jury ordered Cleveland Clinic to pay $7.6 million to a woman who was paralyzed after a 2018 back surgery. She had back surgery in October 2018 to address syringomyelia. She had a second surgery the following year that left her in more pain, and eventually she was left paralyzed from the waist down.
3. A jury handed down a $2.5 million verdict in favor of a man who sued an orthopedic surgeon and Stamford (Conn.) Hospital over treatment for a broken leg. After surgery, the man developed compartment syndrome, had to undergo several surgeries and remained in the hospital for more than a month. He lost all use of his left leg.
4. A jury awarded a Texas man, who was left a paraplegic after spine surgery, $6.2 million, according to his lawyers. The man had an elective lumbar spine procedure and alleged the surgical team with Advanced Intra-Operative Monitoring Specialists didn't properly perform neuromonitoring procedures to detect changes in nerve conduction to avoid permanent injury.