The Largest Reported Medical Malpractice Verdicts and Settlements in Washington, D.C.

When a patient is catastrophically injured by medical negligence in Washington, D.C., the resulting verdict or settlement can reach into the millions — and, in the most serious cases, into the tens of millions of dollars. This article collects some of the largest medical malpractice recoveries reported in the District of Columbia from a range of public sources, including court verdict summaries, news coverage, and law firm case reports.

Two points about scope are important at the outset. First, this article is limited to cases arising in the District of Columbia. The Washington metropolitan area spans D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, and many large reported recoveries in the region actually arose in Maryland or Virginia courts. Those are not included here, even when reported by D.C.-area firms. Second, the figures below come from public sources of varying detail. Some are drawn from official D.C. Superior Court verdict summaries; others come from news reporting or firm-published case results, which we have not independently verified and which may reflect a gross verdict before reductions, appeals, or settlement.

With those caveats, the recoveries below illustrate the range of outcomes in serious D.C. medical negligence cases.

Selected Large D.C. Medical Malpractice Recoveries

Figures are as reported by the cited public sources. “Year” reflects the reported year of the verdict or settlement where available; “n/a” indicates the source did not state a specific year. Reported amounts generally reflect gross verdicts and do not account for post-trial motions, remittitur, statutory or contractual limits, appeals, liens, or amounts ultimately collected.

The $25 Million Cancer Misdiagnosis Verdict (2025)

Among the most significant recent D.C. recoveries is a reported $25 million jury verdict in 2025 in a case alleging that physicians failed to timely diagnose a patient’s cancer despite repeated visits and ongoing symptoms. According to public reporting, a persistent mass was initially dismissed as benign, follow-up imaging recommendations were not acted upon, and the patient was eventually diagnosed with an advanced and aggressive cancer (angiosarcoma) after years of delay. The case illustrates how delayed-diagnosis claims — where the underlying disease was treatable if caught earlier — can produce very large verdicts when the delay is shown to have changed the patient’s outcome.

The $24.25 Million Birth Injury Verdict

A reported $24.25 million D.C. jury verdict arose from an alleged failure to diagnose and respond to a child’s airway obstruction, resulting in preventable brain damage and cerebral palsy. Birth injury and pediatric brain injury cases frequently produce the largest verdicts in any jurisdiction, because the injured child may require a lifetime of medical care, therapy, and support, and because the economic damages alone can be enormous.

The $17.1 Million Wrongful Death Verdict (2022)

In 2022, a D.C. jury returned a reported $17.1 million verdict against a major D.C. hospital in a wrongful death case. According to public reporting, a 33-year-old mother of three presented with vaginal bleeding and was not properly evaluated for an ectopic pregnancy, a recognized medical emergency. The reported award included a substantial sum for the loss suffered by her minor children, along with amounts for conscious pain and suffering and lost wages and services. The case is a reminder that wrongful death verdicts in D.C. can be very large where the decedent leaves behind dependent children.

The D.C. Superior Court Verdict Forms: $14.35 Million, $8.35 Million, and More

Several of the largest figures on the list above also appear in the District of Columbia Superior Court’s annual medical malpractice verdict summaries, which we discuss in detail in companion articles. These include a reported $14.35 million figure associated with the 2019 reporting year, and $8.35 million and $8.0 million plaintiff verdicts in the 2017 reporting year. The official court forms are valuable precisely because they are compiled by the court rather than self-reported, although they too carry limitations and, in at least one instance, an internal inconsistency between the summary figure and the itemized rows.

Settlements Can Be Just as Significant as Verdicts

Not every large recovery is a jury verdict. Public sources also report substantial D.C. medical malpractice and institutional-negligence settlements, including a reported $10 million settlement against the District of Columbia for catastrophic injuries to a child in the foster-care system, and a reported $8.75 million hospital malpractice recovery. Settlements often resolve cases before trial, avoid the risk and delay of appeals, and can be structured to provide lifetime benefits to a severely injured plaintiff. Because most cases settle, the public verdict data captures only part of the overall picture of serious medical negligence recoveries in the District.

A Word of Caution on Cross-Jurisdiction “D.C. Area” Numbers

Prospective clients researching D.C. medical malpractice recoveries should be careful with the very large figures that appear on some regional law firm websites. Several of the largest “Washington, D.C. area” verdicts publicized by local firms were in fact returned in Virginia or Maryland courts — for example, a widely cited $35.6 million verdict was a Virginia case that was then dramatically reduced by Virginia’s statutory cap on medical malpractice damages. The District of Columbia, by contrast, does not impose a statutory cap on medical malpractice damages, which is one reason D.C. verdicts can stand without that kind of reduction. The point is simply that “region” and “jurisdiction” are not the same thing, and the law that applies to a case depends on where it is filed and tried.

Why the Largest Verdicts Share Common Features

Across these reported D.C. recoveries, certain patterns recur. The largest verdicts and settlements tend to involve:

• Death, especially where the decedent leaves dependent children
• Permanent brain injury or cerebral palsy in a child
• Catastrophic, lifelong disability requiring future medical and attendant care
• Delayed cancer diagnosis where earlier detection would have changed the outcome
• Clear, well-documented departures from the standard of care

These features matter because medical malpractice litigation in the District is expensive and heavily defended. The economic reality is that the cases most likely to justify the cost of expert review, litigation, and trial are those involving serious, permanent, or fatal harm with strong proof of negligence and causation.

What These Numbers Do Not Tell You

Large reported recoveries make for striking headlines, but they are not a measure of what any individual case is worth. A reported verdict figure may not reflect what was actually paid after appeals, post-trial motions, or settlement. Every case turns on its own medical records, experts, and facts. A catastrophic injury with weak liability may recover little or nothing, while a clearly negligent error that causes limited harm may not justify the expense of suit.

The value of a D.C. medical malpractice claim depends on factors such as:

• Whether the provider violated the applicable standard of care
• Whether that violation caused the injury
• The severity and permanence of the harm
• The strength and credibility of the supporting medical experts
• The quality and completeness of the medical records
• The economic losses, including future medical care and lost earning capacity

Contact a Washington, D.C. Medical Malpractice Lawyer

If you or a family member suffered a serious injury because of suspected medical negligence in Washington, D.C., a prompt and thorough investigation is important. Medical records must be obtained and reviewed, qualified experts must be consulted, and legal deadlines may apply. The District generally allows three years to file a medical malpractice claim, with special rules for injured children, but earlier deadlines or exceptions can apply depending on the facts.

Our office handles complex D.C. medical malpractice and wrongful death cases involving birth injuries, brain injuries, surgical errors, delayed diagnosis, hospital negligence, medication errors, and failures to monitor or treat. Contact our Washington, D.C. medical malpractice office for a confidential case review.

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Sources and Notes

Figures in this article are drawn from public sources, including the D.C. Superior Court annual medical malpractice verdict summaries and publicly reported verdict and settlement information from news coverage and law firm case reports. The $25 million 2025 cancer-misdiagnosis verdict (Medical Faculty Associates) is reported by Bertram & Murphy and corroborated by a national verdict roundup (Expert Institute). The $24.25 million airway-obstruction birth injury verdict is reported by Janet, Janet & Suggs. The $17.1 million 2022 wrongful death verdict against MedStar Washington Hospital Center is reported by Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel and confirmed by additional reporting. The $14.35 million (2019), $8.35 million and $8.0 million (2017), $6.5 million, and $5.36 million figures correspond to D.C. Superior Court verdict-form data discussed in companion articles; the $6.5 million prenatal-care verdict was affirmed by the D.C. Court of Appeals. The $12 million misdiagnosis verdict, $10 million foster-care settlement, and $8.75 million hospital malpractice figures are reported by D.C. firms (Bertram & Murphy; Schupak Law Firm). Reported figures have not been independently verified, may reflect gross awards before reductions or appeals, and do not guarantee any future result. Cases reported as arising in Maryland or Virginia (including a $35.6 million Virginia verdict later reduced by Virginia’s damages cap) are intentionally excluded because this article is limited to District of Columbia cases.