Jury awards $5 million to woman who had unnecessary hysterectomy

A Cook County jury late Wednesday afternoon awarded $5 million to a Northwest suburban woman who sued a doctor for performing what her attorneys said was an unnecessary hysterectomy after she delivered her first child in 1999.

Sharon Virginelli, now 41, underwent the hysterectomy after her obstetrician, Dr. Pamela Lui, performed a Caesarean section to deliver the woman's child, according to testimony on behalf of the plaintiff at the one-week trial in Cook County circuit court.

Attorney Keith Hebeisen, who represented Virginelli in the case, said the doctor determined the hysterectomy was needed because of postoperative bleeding. However, experts who testified on behalf of Virginelli said her bleeding was slowing and that a less-drastic surgical procedure could have been selected to avoid the hysterectomy. Virginelli is unable to have any more children.

Pamela Menaker, a spokeswoman for the Clifford Law Offices, did not immediately know where specifically in the Northwest suburbs Virginelli lives. She said jurors deliberated about four hours before finding for Virginelli, who was 31 when the surgery was performed at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.