New York Jury Awards $17.5M to Former Rochester Patient

A jury says a Rochester, New York hospital should pay about $17.5 million to a 37-year-old woman who claimed that surgical errors by doctors damaged her organs during a Caesarean delivery.

The state Supreme Court jury awarded the money for Brenda Schenk’s past and future injuries resulting from the actions of doctors at Strong Memorial Hospital in October 2003.

Schenk, who had a kidney and pancreas transplant in 1995, claimed doctors failed to plan properly for her high-risk pregnancy. She also said they neglected to notice that they cut the connection between her pancreas and bladder during the delivery of a healthy baby girl.

That led to complications that eventually required doctors to remove her pancreas.

It was not immediately known whether the hospital will appeal.

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Information from: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle