Susan Capra is an attorney for medical malpractice cases, one of our best lawyers for medical negligence, and a partner at Clifford Law Offices. She is also a registered nurse with years of experience in hospitals and with patients. Ms. Capra has been with Clifford Law Offices since 1989, having graduated with Honors from DePaul University College of Law in Chicago in 1990. It is for this reason that she has achieved several multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements as an attorney for medical malpractice.
Ms. Capra primarily handles cases involving obstetrical, gynecologic and pediatric negligence. For example, she teamed with partner Keith Hebeisen in obtaining a $4.3 million settlement on behalf of a mother’s first-born infant girl who suffered serious and permanent brain damage due to negligent management of her labor and delivery. Together, the lawyers also obtained an $11 million settlement in another medical negligence case of a hospital’s pharmacy that mixed an intravenous solution with excessive amounts of glucose, which were given to a premature newborn who then sustained severe and permanent brain damage as a result. Keith, Susan and senior partner, Robert Clifford, also worked together to obtain a $5.8 million settlement on behalf of another mom whose infant suffered severe and permanent brain damage due to negligent obstetrical treatment rendered at a major Chicago hospital. Since 2010, Ms. Capra has worked-up sixteen obstetrical and gynecological cases, ten of which have resulted in settlements and verdicts over one million dollars and six that have resulted in settlements and verdicts over five million dollars.
In addition, Ms. Capra handles other types of medical negligence cases. For example, Ms. Capra received a $2.6 million verdict for a 44-year-old man who died after the failure of a doctor to diagnose a pulmonary embolism. It was the largest verdict in the history of Adams County, Illinois. She received a $2 million policy limits settlement involving a man’s loss of his leg due to undetected infection following podiatric surgery. She also obtained a $4.25 million settlement on behalf of a 40-year-old mother of two who died due to the negligent care she received during gastric bypass surgery and in the post-operative process. As a highly experienced attorney for medical malpractice, Ms. Capra brings her expertise, as well as her sensitivity as a nurse, to each case.
Ms. Capra is a frequent lecturer on various topics involving medical negligence, and she has authored several articles ranging from the future of hospital peer review to the use of expert witnesses in medical malpractice cases and litigation involving cocaine babies. She is recognized as a Leading Lawyer and a Super Lawyer, having been profiled for her outstanding legal accomplishments in very difficult and complex medical malpractice cases.
Ms. Capra graduated from Robert Clifford’s alma mater, DePaul University and DePaul College of Law. She studied nursing as an undergraduate and worked for many years in between degrees at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago. She was plucked from the ranks of third-year law students as one of the most promising attorneys in her class. Today, she has been named by her peers as one of the finest lawyers for medical negligence in Chicago and around the country.
In addition to her incredible dedication to the legal profession, Ms. Capra has developed quite a reputation among medical malpractice circles for her tireless behind-the-scenes work in developing sound negligence cases. Putting in 18-hour days is not uncommon, and she uses her medical background to get into the necessary details of what occurred during a patient’s treatment.
“The most horrible and unimaginable tragedies have happened to our clients,” says Ms. Capra. “It is an honor to be at Clifford Law Offices and I never want to do any other type of law.”
