Cretton v. Protestant Memorial Medical Center, Inc.

State: Illinois

Court: 5th District Appellate

Docket No: 5-05-0474 Rel

Case Date: 02/28/2007

Preview:NO. 5-05-0474
N O T IC E Decision filed 02/28/07. The text of this dec ision m ay b e changed or corrected prior to the P e t i ti o n for filing of a or the

IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

Re hea ring

FIFTH DISTRICT ________________________________________________________________________ CECIL V. CRETTON and CHERYL L. CRETTON, Coadministrators of the Estate of Joyce E. Cretton, Deceased, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of ) St. Clair County. ) Plaintiffs-Appellees, ) ) v. ) No. 00-L-64 ) PROTESTANT MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER, ) INC., d/b/a Memorial Hospital of Belleville, ) Honorable ) Robert P. LeChien, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, presiding. ________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE SPOMER delivered the opinion of the court: The defendant, Protestant Memorial Medical Center, Inc., doing business as Memorial Hospital of Belleville, appeals the following orders of the circuit court of St. Clair County entered against the defendant and in favor of the plaintiffs, Cecil V. Cretton and Cheryl L. Cretton, who are the coadministrators of the estate of Joyce E. Cretton, who is deceased: the August 14, 2003, order entering a judgment in the amount of $950,000 on a jury verdict rendered the previous day for the plaintiffs on their survival action against the defendant; the March 7, 2005, order awarding sanctions in the amount of $129,089.90 against the defendant; and the July 18, 2005, order denying the defendant's motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict ( n.o.v.), a new trial, a remittitur, and/or the vacation of the March 7, 2005, sanctions. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the orders of the circuit court. On February 11, 1999, Joyce Cretton, who was in the advanced stages of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), was admitted to the defendant hospital. Although she was initially treated in the intensive-care unit, Joyce was later transferred to the

disposition of the same.

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intermediate-care unit. Joyce's condition deteriorated on February 26 and 27, and she passed away on February 27, 1999. On February 3, 2000, the plaintiffs filed a two-count complaint against the defendant, alleging that prior to her death, Joyce had been allowed to fall or was dropped and that as a result Joyce suffered a subdural hematoma that ultimately resulted in her death. Eventually, the case proceeded to a trial and led to the orders described above. Although the plaintiffs prevailed on their survival action, the jury rendered a verdict

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