her condition improved and she became more alert. Sheryl's poor condition was attributed to the detoxification program.
On October 29, 1977, Sheryl's condition appeared to worsen. She was constantly falling asleep and could not carry on a conversation. On October 30, 1977, Sheryl suffered from severe headaches and appeared to be totally incoherent.
On October 31, 1977, Sheryl remained groggy. The last time a member of Sheryl's family saw her alive was at approximately 9:00 p.m. on October 31, 1977. Sheryl was pronounced dead on November 1, 1977.
The autopsy report indicated that Sheryl had died from "combined drug toxicity" as a result of her system being overloaded with various drugs most notably, Darvocet.
Michael thereafter commenced this action against Rush claiming that Rush's failure to monitor and care for Sheryl hadidentified her condition and provided her with Narcon. The plaintiff's experts interpreted the absence of entries on Sheryl's medical charts as indicating that nothing had been done for Sheryl during the night.
Rush's experts, on the other hand, opined that the mere absence of entries did not reflect that regular checks on Sheryl had not been made. Rush's experts also asserted that Sheryl's drug toxicity level was so high that she could not have been saved even if her condition was discovered by Rush's nurses. According to Rush's experts, therefore, no breach of the standard of care occurred.
Following a trial of several weeks, and the presentation of many exhibits, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff and against Rush in the amount of $4,000,000. That amount