State Supreme Court jury awards $17 million to a New York woman in a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit.

A New York State Supreme Court jury found Strong Memorial Hospital liable for medical malpractice against Brenda Schenk, a resident of Henrietta.  After seven days of deliberation, the jury found Strong Memorial Hospital to be accountable for Schenk’s past and future injuries, pain, and suffering, consequently awarding Schenk with $17 million dollars.

In 1995, Brenda Schenk had a kidney and pancreas transplant for her type 1 diabetes treatment.  Then in 2003, she become pregnant after her type-1 diabetes was under control.  The medical malpractice suit alleged that doctors failed to plan properly for her pregnancy and neglected to notice that they had cut the connection between her pancreas and bladder during a Caesarean delivery, causing pancreatic fluid and urine to leak into her abdominal cavity.
After the Caesarean, corrosive fluid burned Schenk's organs, ate through her abdominal wall, and required doctors to remove her pancreas.
Strong Memorial Hospital officials noted disappointment in the verdict and their intentions to appeal.  A Strong Memorial Hospital official said: "We deeply regret the complications suffered by Mrs. Schenk, yet given what the medical team knew at the time of her delivery, we stand behind the decisions that were made."

Steven Pegalis, of Pegalis & Erickson of Long Island, said: "This was her opportunity to fulfill her dream to be a mother.  Instead of the birth of this child being the high point of her life, it turned out to be a nightmare."
Steven Pegalis said: “A doctor who specialized in transplant procedures should have been monitoring Schenk during the delivery, and surgeons should have operated farther away from her bladder, where there was less risk of damaging her transplants.  A transplant doctor would have noticed and been able to repair the cut immediately.”

Schenk underwent seven more operations to remove dead tissue, drain infections, and repair her abdomen.  She was discharged in December 2003, after two months in the hospital. Pegalis said that Schenk's diabetes has worsened and that because of the damaged abdominal wall, she cannot undergo another pancreas transplant or — if her kidney fails — another kidney transplant.  She also uses several pain medications and has trouble moving, he said.
“Each case is an individual case, and … it either has merit or it doesn’t.  And if it does have merit, it’s an opportunity to learn why something went wrong,” Pegalis said. “Nobody intended to cause harm to Brenda, but when something like this happens, they need to learn from that.”