$3 Million Verdict

Attorney James Wilkens of Duffy, Duffy & Burdo, recently won a $3.1 million verdict against Jamaica Hospital, in the case of stroke victim Joan Jiles.

Jiles was 57 years old in 2000 when she went to the Emergency Room at Jamaica Hospital with warning signs of a stroke. Despite the symptoms, she was not given the drug (TPA) that could have prevented her from having the stroke, said Wilkens. Although the hospital had the drug there, their claim was that it was not in their "standard of care" for use in preventing stroke. According to the attorney, Jiles then did suffer a stroke, which left her with no functional use of her right arm, a permanent brace on her right foot and very limited use of her entire right leg.

This year, Jiles will retire from the teaching job she loves - since she feels it is too difficult to keep up due to her physical limitations.

Duffy, Duffy and Burdo is one of the leading medical malpractice litigation firms in the region. Wilkens has extensive trial expertise litigating catastrophic injury cases involving brain injury, cerebral palsy, wrongful death and medical malpractice.