$15 Million Awarded in Illinois Childbirth Death Lawsuit

Jurors have awarded a $15 million settlement to the husband of a suburban Chicago high school teacher who died while giving birth. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the wrongful death lawsuit accused two doctors and hospitals of failing to diagnose and treat the woman for a high-risk complication called placenta accreta.Karen Lopez of Westchester died of excessive bleeding during a 2008 cesarean section at Berwyn’s MacNeal Hospital. The suit named Mahmoud A. Ismail, a University of Chicago maternal-fetal medicine specialist who interpreted an ultrasound two months before Lopez’s death. The other doctor is Mukundini Mehta of MacNeal Hospital, who provided prenatal care and performed the C-section.