NOVI, Mich. — An Oakland County jury has ordered $14.2 million in damages for a Novi woman who went close to 18 hours without a stroke evaluation after she was rushed to the hospital in her own city in 2020.
The woman, a mother of three who is now 37, reached what was then the Novi campus of Ascension Providence Hospital on Nov. 19, 2020, after her husband found her unable to stand or talk. Emergency staff first worked her up as a possible drug overdose and later settled on a urinary tract infection, even though tests showed no street drugs in her system.
Doctors performed procedures on Nov. 20 and Nov. 23 to get blood flowing to her brain again. She needed a ventilator for several days, left the hospital on Dec. 11 and then spent about three months in a nursing home for rehab. The damage to her speech kept her from being cross-examined at trial, and she now needs help raising her children and cannot hold a job outside the home.
The verdict sets aside $10 million for her care over the rest of her life and $4.2 million in economic damages. Ascension had not answered questions about the case as of Friday evening.
Henry Ford Health took over the hospital from Ascension in 2024 as part of an eight-property deal. Now named Henry Ford Providence Novi Hospital, it operates a Level II Adult Trauma Center with an emergency room open 24 hours a day and lists stroke care among its specialty services.
Filed under: Novi MI Health News
