Joanne P. Sheehan, R.N., B.S.N., J.D.

Joanne P. Sheehan, a registered nurse and attorney, focuses on civil litigation, personal injury, medical malpractice, products liability and in representing nurses and allied health professionals before licensing boards. Joanne has represented victims of medical malpractice and personal injury and obtained numerous settlements in excess of $1,000,000.

Some of Joanne’s settlements include:

  • Co-counsel in a $16,725,000.00 medical malpractice settlement on behalf of a patient who suffered anoxic brain damage as a result of an anesthesiologist's negligence during the patient's c-section.
  • $2,100,000.00 wrongful death medical malpractice award as a result of the hospital's improper discharge of the plaintiff's decedent who later died of an undiagnosed ruptured aortic aneurysm.
  • $1,800,000.00 settlement on behalf of a female plaintiff who sustained permanent vision loss in both eyes as a result of the defendant optometrist's improper administration of ophthalmic steroids to the plaintiff despite her history of steroid induced eye pressure.
  • $1,175,000.00 wrongful death award in a drunk driving accident on behalf of the decedent against the drunk driver and the bar who served the defendant.
  • $1,000,000.00 wrongful death settlement on behalf of the plaintiff's decedent who died as a passenger in an automobile accident after being struck by the defendant's truck.1

Ms. Sheehan graduated from St. Vincent's Hospital School of Nursing in New York City in 1977 and received her Bachelor of Science, cum laude, from Pace University in 1982. She practiced as a registered nurse for 10 years, specializing in burn intensive care before completing her law degree from Pace University School of Law in 1987. During that time she co-founded the Pace University Health Law Society.

She is admitted to practice before Connecticut and New York Courts, Federal Courts, and the United States Supreme Court.

Leadership positions held by Ms. Sheehan include the 2004 presidency of the American Association of Nurse Attorneys and chairperson of the American Association of Nurse Attorneys Committee on disciplinary Defense of Health Care Professionals. She is also past president and co-founder of the Connecticut Chapter of Nurse Attorneys. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Nurse Attorneys Foundation. She is a member of the Connecticut Bar Association, the Fairfield County Bar Association and the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association. She is past chairperson of the Fairfield County Medical Legal Committee, and the Greater Bridgeport Bar Medical-Legal Committee. She has also served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Nursing Law and is a graduate of Leadership Greater Bridgeport.

Ms. Sheehan is a frequent author of articles and textbook chapters and presenter of seminars on legal issues facing nurses.

She currently serves on the Town of Fairfield Parking Authority.

Ms. Sheehan resides in Fairfield with her husband and family.

If you wish to meet with Ms. Sheehan, contact her at jsheehan@theberkowitzlawfirm.com today.

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  • $9,000,000.00 medical malpractice recovery against an obstetrician and a hospital whose failure to timely deliver the infant plaintiff, despite signs of fetal distress, left her severely brain damaged.
  • $6,100,000.00 settlement against a hospital and two physicians on behalf of a client who sustained permanent paralysis following the administration of anesthesia and prior to undergoing an anterior cervical discectomy.
  • $4,750,000.00 medical malpractice award on behalf of a child who sustained brain damage as a result of a hospital's negligent airway management.
  • $4,000,000.00 medical malpractice verdict against a gynecologist who caused the plaintiff to undergo a hysterectomy following a negligent surgical procedure and destroyed her ability to bear children.
  • $3,000,000.00 medical malpractice recovery against an anesthesiologist whose negligent administration of spinal anesthesia left an infant plaintiff profoundly brain damaged.
  • $3,000,000.00 medical malpractice settlement on behalf of a brain damaged newborn against a hospital as a result of the hospital's failure to timely deliver said newborn despite signs and symptoms of fetal distress.
  • $2,600,000.00 wrongful death verdict against a family practitioner and a urologist whose failure to timely diagnose prostate cancer led to the plaintiff's death.
  • $2,500,000.00 settlement against a radiologist for his failure to timely diagnose the plaintiff's spinal tumor which progressed to metastatic late stage cancer.
  • $2,450,000.00 total award against a hospital for its failure to properly restrain a hospital psychiatric patient who jumped out of a hospital window and fell three stories sustaining a permanent brain injury.
  • $2,300,000.00 medical malpractice settlement against a hospital following its failure to diagnose a bacterial infection causing a child to go into respiratory arrest and without oxygen for 20 minutes leading to the child's brain damage.

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