Girl awarded $2 million in damages for botched Peoria medical procedure

A 13-year-old girl has been awarded $2 million by a Peoria County jury after they found that a former OSF HealthCare pediatric surgeon was negligent when he tried using a leftover stent to treat a tear in her esophagus when she was an infant.

Mark J. Holterman, who worked at OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center for six years from 2011 to 2017, on Friday was found negligent in his actions when he treated the girl following a choking incident in July 2011. Due to her injuries resulting from the procedures, the jury awarded the girl and her family $2 million in damages.

According to Chicago-based law firm Romanucci & Blandin, who represented the girl at trial, Holterman treated the then-9-month-old girl following the choking episode and found both a piece of carrot and a narrowed area in her esophagus called a stricture. He attempted to dilate the stricture, but created a two-centimeter tear in her esophagus.

Read more of Zach Roth's reporting on the verdict and case for the Peoria Journal Star.