We’re proud to see Mitchell Hoffman & Wolf partner Ken Hoffman featured in the October 2020 issue of the American Association for Justice Trial Magazine. In response to their “Question of the Month” asking lawyers, “What was your most memorable case or client?” Ken recalled his representation of the family of a woman who died shortly after giving birth to her third child, writing, “I will never forget the feeling of realizing that my work gave those children the financial security necessary for their upbringing and college education.”
My most memorable case involved a woman who was pregnant with her third child and had received prenatal care from a nurse practitioner with inadequate doctor supervision. The result was missed signs of preeclampsia, and she delivered her child on an emergency basis when she started to bleed uncontrollably.
Her child was saved, but she died after childbirth from a stroke due to the eclampsia, leaving her children without their mother. Her husband died three months later in an unrelated event, and the children were raised by their grandmother.
The Illinois Tort Immunity Act gave the defendants protection from any claim of misdiagnosis, so the case was extremely difficult, but we ultimately won at trial. I will never forget the feeling of realizing that my work gave those children the financial security necessary for their upbringing and college education.
Ken Hoffman, MHW.law, Chicago, IL