A Charleston man who suffered a stroke after undergoing surgery to repair a shoulder injury he suffered while on the job has received $1.6 million in a confidential workers’ compensation settlement, his attorney reports.
David Pearlman of the Steinberg Law Firm in Charleston reports that his 56-year-old client injured his shoulder at work in September 2016. The client, who had a history of coronary artery disease, went under the knife the following summer, and two weeks later suffered a stroke that resulted in brain damage.
Pearlman said there was inadequate pre-surgery determination of the client’s risk for a potential stroke, and if the proper evaluation had been conducted before the surgery, procedures could have been used that would have prevented or reduced the possibility of a stroke. Pearlman said the client was taken off his anticoagulant medication before the surgery and was not properly put back on it after the surgery, putting him at a greater risk of having a stroke.
Pearlman said that the employers’ insurance company had disputed that the stroke was a catastrophic consequence of the shoulder surgery.
“I didn’t think that the stroke was just a mere coincidence and it just happened out of circumstance two weeks after having surgery,” Pearlman said. “We wanted to, and were able to, develop enough evidence and expert testimony to show that there was a relationship between the shoulder injury and the resulting surgery, and then the resulting stroke, which left my client with substantial brain damage.”
Pearlman said the client and his family were able to buy a modified van for transportation and make modifications to their home to accommodate his limited mobility as a result of the settlement, which was also used to pay off the client’s house and provide the family with financial stability since he could no longer work.
“We were pleased to be able to put together the medical avenues to support our claim and to achieve a very, very good result under the Workers’ Compensation Act for my client,” Pearlman said.
Lana Sims of Columbia mediated the settlement, which was agreed to Dec. 16. Many details of the settlement, including the identities of the parties, the location of the incident, and the names of the opposing, were withheld pursuant to a confidentiality agreement.
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SETTLEMENT REPORT – WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
Amount: $1.6 million
Injuries alleged: Shoulder surgery resulting in stroke leading to brain damage
Case name: Confidential
Court: confidential
Mediator: Lana Sims of Columbia
Date of settlement: Dec. 6, 2019
Most helpful experts: Morris Gitter of Charleston (emergency room doctor), Daniel Lackland of Charleston (epidemiologist), Walter Leventhal of Summerville (family physician), Marshall Whit of Mount Pleasant (neurologist), and Karen Shelton (life care plan)
Attorney for plaintiff: David Pearlman of the Steinberg Law Firm in Charleston
Attorney for defendant: Withheld