$20.8 Million For Podiatrist Whose Foot Was Amputated

Robert Ross successfully litigated the case of Ellisa Young, a Philadelphia podiatrist, who went to the Hahnemann University Hospital for treatment of Crohn’s disease and was given a central venal catheter to administer steroids.

The catheter was left inside Young for too long and became infected. Young was released from Hahnemann and later was admitted to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where an embolism was diagnosed. The clot traveled from Young’s lungs to her foot. The foot became so gangrenous it had to be amputated at the ankle in two surgical procedures.

Young returned home and was unable to work for two years. In an interview with The Legal Intelligencer, Ross said that when Young tried to work with prosthesis, she was unable to do so because of the pain and the effects of the pain medications.

The lawsuit asserted, among other things, that the amputation of Young’s foot was preventable and that she had clear symptoms of infection that were not addressed.

After a two-week trial in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, the jury returned its $20.8 million verdict.