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Caption: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1986
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362 BOARD O F TRUSTEES EXECUTIVE SESSION [September 12 President Shepherd, referring to Section T w o of the O p e n Meetings Act, stated: "A motion is now in order to hold an executive session to consider information regarding the appointment, employment, or dismissal of employees or officers, and to discuss pending, probable, or imminent litigation against or on behalf of the University and to discuss the acquisition of real property." T h e motion was m a d e by M r . Forsyth and approved unanimously. Settlement of Litigation (1) Litigation has been initiated in the Circuit Court of Cook County by Genevieve Sanders and her husband, Charles Sanders, Sr., against Darryl E. R. Townsend and J. Kirkland Grant, physicians on the staff of the University of Illinois. The plaintiffs allege that Mrs. Sanders, age 69, entered the University of Illinois Hospital for treatment of a condition known as lichen sclerosus et atrophicus, a benign lesion of the vulva, and that the defendants were negligent in treating this condition with laser surgery. Mrs. Sanders agreed to this course of treatment since she believed that her condition was a precursor to cancer, but was not aware that the vulva essentially would be removed in the laser surgery. The surgery resulted in second and third degree burns and obliterated tissue. The plaintiffs allege that appropriate testing was not done to determine whether the condition actually was a precursor to cancer, that there was no informed consent to the procedure, that the physician had inadequate training for laser surgery, that the tissue was obliterated to a depth far in excess of any appropriate standard, and that it should have been possible to remove the lesion with a scalpel which would not have caused second and third degree burns and would have allowed regeneration of the dermis. The plaintiffs seek damages for Mrs. Sanders' pain, her extended hospitalization and medical bills with her local physicians and the Mayo Clinic, her disability, and her husband's loss of consortium. Special counsel has recommended that authority be extended to compromise the case for a total payment by the University of $200,000. The university counsel and the relevant University committee have also recommended settlement for that sum. Under prior Board of Trustees' actions relating to the University's self-insurance program, the vice president for business and finance is required to submit to the board for its approval any settlement which involves the payment of more than $100,000. Accordingly, the vice president for business and finance has recommended that the board authorize settlement of this litigation for $200,000, payable from funds provided under the University's self-insurance program. I concur. O n motion of M r . Logan, this recommendation was approved by the following vote: Aye, Mrs. Day, M r . Forsyth, Mrs. Gravenhorst, M r . H a h n , M r . H o w a r d , M r . Logan, Mrs. Shepherd, Miss S m i t h ; no, n o n e ; absent, M r . M a d d e n , Governor T h o m p s o n . ( T h e student advisory vote was: Aye, M r . Becker, M r . L a m m ; no, none.) Status of Pending Litigation T h e university counsel reported on the status of other pending litigation as follows:
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