$21.5 Million Verdict for Navy Veteran Left with Locked-In Syndrome After VA Missed Second Stroke

In late 2010, Michael Farley, a 60-year-old Navy veteran from Bennington, New Hampshire, went to the Manchester VA Medical Center complaining of partial blindness and headaches. Physicians at the VA evaluated him, confirmed a likely stroke had occurred, and briefly considered transferring him to a higher-level facility. That transfer was canceled in confusion. No cardiologist or neurologist was ever consulted, both of whom were available at the clinic. Farley was discharged without adequate follow-up care and without the standard medication, Coumadin, that his condition called for.

Six weeks later, Farley suffered a massive second stroke. The damage was catastrophic and permanent. He was left with locked-in syndrome: fully conscious, able to feel pain, but with almost no voluntary muscle control. He can communicate only through small movements of his eyes and head.

Farley's wife, Jeanice, brought suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act on his behalf. The case went to a four-day bench trial before Judge Landya McCafferty in October 2014. Attorneys Jamal Alsaffar and Tom Jacob presented evidence that the VA's failure to follow standard stroke protocol directly caused the second stroke and its devastating outcome. The court agreed, finding that the VA did not provide an adequate diagnostic evaluation after the first event and prescribed the wrong medication.

On April 3, 2015, Judge McCafferty entered judgment of $21,468,710.62 for Michael Farley. Of that total, approximately $13.4 million was placed in a trust to fund his medical care for the rest of his life, and $8.1 million addressed pain and suffering. Jeanice Farley received an additional $100,000 individually. The award was the largest personal-injury judgment in New Hampshire history at that time.