Mary N. Nielsen

Mary N. Nielsen focuses her practice on the defense of healthcare providers, including physicians, nurses, nurse anesthetists, and physical, occupational, and speech therapists. She defends clients in a wide variety of specialties, including:

• critical care
• emergency medicine
• infectious disease
• internal medicine
• neurology
• orthopedics
• pediatrics and neonatal care
• pulmonary
• radiology
• urology

Ms. Nielsen has engaged in multiple mediations and settlement conferences. Her trial experience includes numerous first chair verdicts and spans multiple counties in Illinois.

Education

• Southern Illinois University School of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, 1993
• University of Illinois, B.A. in History, 1991

LAW SCHOOL HONORS/INVOLVEMENT

• National Moot Court team

Admissions & Affiliations

• Illinois

• Defense verdict. Represented cardiothoracic surgeon in medical malpractice case where patient died during surgery for lung cancer. Sought: $7,300,000; awarded $0. (Estate of Ronald Green, deceased v. Dr. Norman Snow)
• Defense verdict. Represented third-year otolaryngology surgery resident in medical malpractice case alleging child given medication overdose during a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. Sought: $7,000,000; awarded $0. (Zaki Mohamed, minor v. Dr. Nadia Gul Mohyuddin)
• Defense verdict. Represented hospital, two residents, and a physician’s assistant in medical malpractice case alleging pregnant woman died from insulin overdose. Sought: $2,500,000. Awarded $0. (Estate of Ella Jackson, deceased, Estate of Baby Girl Jackson, deceased minor v. Michael Reese Hospital)
• Plaintiff verdict. Represented medical center in medical malpractice case alleging negligence in plaintiff’s wheelchair fall inside hospital’s transport van. Sought: $2,000,000; awarded $350,000. (Estate of Ferdinand Timmreck, deceased v. Resurrection Medical Center)
• Defense verdict. Represented physical therapist in medical malpractice case involving a broken leg during transfer at a nursing home. Sought: $1,000,000; awarded $0. (Estate of Alice Yerbick, deceased v Alden-Northmoor Rehabilitation & Health Care Center Inc., Tammy Palese, Dr. Stanislaw Maslanka)

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• Plaintiff verdict. Represented hospital in medical malpractice case alleging failure to timely diagnose infant’s necrotic bowel. Sought $10,250,000; awarded $2,970,000. (Estate of Isabella Kitsen Zormelo, deceased minor v Edward Hospital, Dr. Michael J. Fitzgerald, Dr. Leslie Farolan, Dr. Deanna L. Holleman-Duray, Dr. Robert F. Covert, Dr. Rajeev S. Dixit, DuPage Neonatology Associates S.C.)

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Events & Speaking Engagements

• Speaks at Grand Rounds, staff and resident meetings, and at-risk management conferences on:
  • Consents
  • Anatomy of a malpractice case
  • Strategies to avoid or mitigate litigation exposure
  • Current developments in case law
  • Litigation trends