Lawyers at DBS successfully litigate a wide variety of civil cases and argue appeals in some of the most challenging jurisdictions in the country.
DBS Obtains a Not Guilty Verdict in Cook County
Physician and Practice Group
Outcome:Defense Verdict
On February 4, 2026, DBS attorneys, Timothy Hogan and Jonah Toennies, successfully obtained a verdict of not guilty in favor of the firm’s client, a Chicago-area physician and his private practice, following a weeklong trial before the Hon. Karen O’Malley in the Circuit Court of Cook County, IL.
Plaintiff’s decedent, an 87-year-old male, was placed on the anti-coagulation medication warfarin in late-2015 due to a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation. He was followed by several medical providers from 2015 through 2019, including the defendant, who served as his primary care physician. Plaintiff claimed that defendant negligently increased the decedent’s warfarin dosage at a March 11, 2020 appointment based upon the handwritten changes in the medical record and the subsequent elevated INR, a test used to monitor the effect of warfarin on the patient’s blood, indicating that the decedent had taken too much warfarin which further increased the decedent’s risk of bleeding. Plaintiff further claimed that the standard of care required the defendant to stop the warfarin medication, and instead, prescribe a direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC) at or prior to the March 11, 2020 visit. These alleged failures, plaintiff claimed, resulted in the increased INR, causing the decedent’s intracranial bleed and eventual death.
The defense maintained that there was no increase in dosage at the March 11, 2020 visit to defendant’s office based on the medical records and the defendant’s custom and practice of only increasing the warfarin based on an INR test result. Furthermore, the defense argued that the prescription of a DOAC was not the standard of care at the time, as multiple physicians, including the treating cardiologist, had prescribed warfarin as recently as January 2020. Finally, the defense argued that any alleged increase in warfarin dosage was not the cause of plaintiff’s intracranial bleed and did not cause his death.
During closings, plaintiff’s counsel requested $950,000 in damages. After less than 30 minutes of deliberation, the jury returned a defense verdict.