The Biggest Medical Malpractice Verdicts of 2026 (So Far)

We're only halfway through 2026, and juries have already delivered some large medical negligence awards - including a nine-figure federal verdict that ranks among the biggest ever returned over the denial of medical care. Below are the largest verdicts of the year to date, ranked by size, with each linked to news coverage.

1. Jackson v. Corizon Health - $307 Million (Michigan, April 2026)

The year's largest award so far came in federal court in Detroit, where a jury awarded $307 million to Kohchise Jackson, a former Michigan inmate who spent more than two years in prison with a leaking colostomy bag because the state's prison healthcare contractor refused to pay for reversal surgery - a decision his lawyers argued was made purely to cut costs, not for any medical reason. Jackson testified that the untreated condition subjected him to infections, humiliation, and physical altercations with other inmates. After a nine-day trial, jurors deliberated only about two hours before awarding $7.5 million in compensatory damages and $300 million in punitive damages against Corizon's successor company, plus $100,000 against the physician who denied the surgery. The case was brought as a constitutional claim of deliberate indifference to medical needs rather than a traditional malpractice suit, and collection is complicated by Corizon's 2023 bankruptcy - but the verdict stands as one of the largest ever returned over denied medical care.

2. K.F. v. Jefferson Health (Einstein) - $108.6 Million (Pennsylvania, March 2026)

On March 19, a Philadelphia jury unanimously awarded $108.6 million in a birth injury case against Jefferson Health and a pediatric practice it acquired with Einstein Healthcare Network. The case involved a December 2018 forceps delivery at what is now Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital that left the child, now seven years old, with traumatic brain injuries and permanent neurological damage affecting cognitive and intellectual function. The award included $106.1 million for future medical and care expenses over an expected additional life span of 68 years, plus amounts for pain and suffering and lost earning capacity. It's the largest medical malpractice verdict in Philadelphia since the record $183 million award against Penn Medicine in 2023, and Jefferson has said it will appeal.

4. Haas v. Cardiology Associates of Mobile - $50 Million (Alabama, March 2026)

A Mobile County jury awarded $50 million to the family of Dan Haas, who died in December 2020 after his cardiologist sent him home from the hospital despite a heart catheterization showing a serious, life-threatening coronary blockage. Haas had developed severe pain between his shoulder blades and shortness of breath after a hunting trip; a stress test days later was abnormal, and the catheterization on December 30 confirmed the blockage. Rather than admitting him and starting blood thinners immediately, his cardiologist discharged him, cleared him for elective eye surgery the following week, and told him to begin anticoagulants after that surgery. Haas died in his sleep that same night. Cardiology experts testified at the 13-day trial that with admission and routine anticoagulation, his chance of survival would have exceeded 99 percent.

5. Anderson v. Westmed Medical Group - $49 Million (Connecticut, April 2026)

On April 9, a Stamford jury awarded $49 million - $39 million to Jennifer Anderson of Darien and $10 million to her husband - after finding that her gynecologist repeatedly failed to follow standard protocols for monitoring high-risk HPV. Anderson tested positive for high-risk HPV strains, including HPV-16, over multiple annual visits between 2013 and 2019, yet her doctor never performed a colposcopy, the standard follow-up procedure. By the time a mass was discovered on her cervix in September 2019, her cancer had progressed; it has since spread to her chest, abdomen, and pelvis and is expected to be fatal. Her attorneys emphasized the bitter irony at the heart of the case: cervical cancer is among the most preventable cancers, and Anderson had done everything right — attending every appointment and completing every test. The jury deliberated three hours after a five-week trial.

6. Giordano v. Northern Light Health - $23.1 Million (Maine, June 2026)

On June 18, an Aroostook County jury awarded $23.1 million to Robert Giordano, who was left permanently paralyzed from the chest down after Northern Light Health providers failed to act on signs of spinal cord compression. Giordano first went to the emergency room in December 2020 after a fall; a radiology scan showing a dangerous spinal finding was not fully acted upon, and when he later reported worsening pain, numbness, and difficulty standing, the lawsuit alleged one nurse suggested he was exaggerating to obtain opioids. He wasn't diagnosed with spinal compression until the end of January 2021, and two surgeries could not restore function. His attorneys called it the largest non-death medical malpractice verdict in Maine history and likely the second-largest malpractice verdict of any kind in the state.

Patterns in 2026's Verdicts

Two themes stand out at the year's halfway mark. The first is the role of punitive damages and corporate conduct: the largest award with Corizon was driven less by an individual clinician's mistake than by juries' conclusions that companies systematically prioritized profits over care. The second is the continued dominance of failure-to-diagnose and failure-to-act cases: a coronary blockage identified but not treated, high-risk HPV results never followed up, spinal compression visible on imaging but not escalated. In each, the harm was arguably preventable at a specific, documented decision point - exactly the kind of evidence that moves juries toward eight- and nine-figure numbers.

‍