Kathy Arient suffered from chronic pain and underwent a celiac plexus block at the L1 level of her lumbar spine.  Kathy was not a good candidate for the procedure when other less risky treatments were available.  Among other things, the defendant anesthesiologist did not place the needles anteriorly, which created a risk of vasospasm of the artery of Adamkiewicz.  Kathy suffered a vasospasm which caused paralysis.  She died from complications on June 9, 2014 (survived by her husband and two adult children).  Medical Protective Insurance Company recently paid $4,500,000 for the anesthesiologist and his employer to settle the underlying medical malpractice action and plaintiff’s bad faith claim. The anesthesiologist also paid $17,466 which was collected through wage garnishment proceedings.  Therefore, plaintiff received over $3.5 million dollars above and beyond the defendant physician’s $1 million dollar policy limits.  A Cook County jury awarded plaintiff $7.88 million dollars in March, 2016.  Robert J. Napleton and Bradley Z. Schulman represented the Arient family at trial.