$4.6 Million in Compensatory Damages and $33.8 Million in Punitive Damages Awarded Against Hill-Rom Company, Inc.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill., May 12, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- A Sangamon County jury has returned a momentous verdict of $38.4 million, in favor of Stacey Brown (Plainview, IL), a surgical technologist at HSHS St. John's Hospital in Springfield, Illinois, who was permanently injured when a defective operating room boom collapsed on her without warning on January 31, 2022. The jury awarded Stacey and her husband Roger $4.6 million in compensatory damages, and awarded Ms. Brown $33.8 million in punitive damages.
The verdict was returned against Hill-Rom Company, Inc., a division of Baxter Healthcare (Deerfield, IL), the manufacturer and installer of the TruPort medical boom that fell on Ms. Brown in Operating Room 16 of the hospital. The jury found that the boom failed because Hillrom had installed bolts that were shorter than the design specifications required, a concealed defect that Hillrom had known about since at least 2018 and could not be detected through routine inspection or preventive maintenance.
The Verdict
The jury's award reflects the full scope of the harm Ms. Brown has endured. The compensatory damages account for her lost earnings and benefits due to the permanent impairment of her dominant right arm following two major shoulder surgeries, ongoing injuries to her neck, right leg, right foot, and right wrist, and the profound loss of independence and quality of life she has suffered since the accident. The punitive damages reflect the jury's judgment that Hillrom's conduct: its repeated failure to investigate and correct a known defect across more than four years, and its decision not to act unless and until someone was hurt.
Preventable Injuries
Stacey Brown spent 15 years as a top-level surgical technologist at St. John's Hospital, working overnight shifts. On the night of January 31, 2022, she was alone in OR 16, preparing for a first-start surgery, when the overhead TruPort boom collapsed on her. Its metal extension pinned her right foot to the floor.
Since that night, Ms. Brown has undergone two major shoulder surgeries, endured extensive physical therapy, and experienced progressive injuries across multiple areas of the right side of her body. Her treating physicians testified that her right shoulder is unlikely to improve meaningfully, that her neck injuries will require additional surgery, and that she has permanent residual injuries that will affect her for the rest of her life. She has been unable to return to full-duty work and unable to engage in the active life she cherished before Hillrom's equipment failed her.
Hillrom's Pattern of Inaction
Evidence at trial established that Hillrom had been aware of the risk of bolt mix-ups in its TruPort production process since at least 2018, and that a similar assembly defect had been identified as far back as 2014 at its German manufacturing plant. Despite identifying the same root cause in 2018, Hillrom chose not to inspect or retrofit the booms already installed at hospitals across the country. Hillrom testified under oath that the company's policy was to wait for a complaint, and that complaint-driven approach meant no action would be taken until a person was actually harmed. The 2022 worldwide field retrofit that Hillrom ultimately performed after Ms. Brown's injury cost approximately $800,000. That same action could have been taken in 2018 and would have prevented her injury.
Hillrom's own risk analysis rated the potential harm from a complete boom collapse as "catastrophic." Hillrom's representative acknowledged under oath that he could not guarantee another TruPort boom would not fall on another person. The jury heard this testimony and responded accordingly.
Sangamon County Jury
We are deeply grateful to the men and women of this jury. They gave their time, their full attention, and their careful deliberation to a case involving complex technical evidence spanning years of corporate misconduct. They listened to every witness, weighed every document, and returned a verdict that speaks clearly: companies that manufacture and install equipment in hospital operating rooms owe a responsibility to the healthcare workers who depend on that equipment every day.
We are equally grateful to Stacey and Roger Brown for their courage in bringing this case. Stacey spent years caring for patients in the operating room. She deserved to be protected by the equipment around her but Hillrom failed her. We are honored to have represented both Stacey and Roger.
Gunn | Slater is a personal injury law firm located in Clayton, Missouri. Attorneys Amy Collignon Gunn and Erica B. Slater are trial-tested attorneys representing those harmed by medical errors, reckless drivers, and careless corporations. Gunn and Slater, after nearly 30 and 15 years of experience, respectively, founded Gunn | Slater in January 2025. This verdict represents their third successful jury verdict and second verdict awarding punitive damages within fifteen months of opening their law firm.
Media Contact
Erica Slater, Gunn | Slater, 1 314-413-9711, [email protected], https://gunnslater.com/
SOURCE Gunn | Slater
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