Russell Makepeace

Russell Makepeace, Shareholder

Russell solves system-level and patient-specific problems involving clinical care, operations, and regulatory compliance. He is a trial lawyer and consultant responsible for orchestrating solutions to controversies as mundane as abandoned property disposition and as complex as transportation of patients halfway around the world. He has drafted and proposed legislation and Executive Orders on behalf of healthcare consortiums, and has addressed disputes involving HIPAA compliance, EMTALA violations, challenges to the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act, Civil Investigative Demands (CID), governmental subpoenas, Constitutional challenges to legislation, formal and informal Congressional inquiries and Standing Committee requests, compliance with the CMS Guidelines for Participation, and threats of Immediate Jeopardy.

Russell serves as lead trial counsel for the largest medical providers in the St. Louis metropolitan area with particular focus on cases involving obstetrical emergencies and birth trauma. He was recognized by Missouri Lawyers Media in 2013 and 2017 for obtaining defense verdicts ranked within the top ten for the year in terms of dollar exposure. He has managed over 500 discreet pieces of litigation involving more than half a billon dollars of risk to his clients.

As consulting trial and appellate counsel, he has monitored or evaluated trials in Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa, and works with several national jury consulting firms to conduct focus groups and mock trials. His focus is distilling medical-based, linear narratives to explain patient experiences and the variables that can, and cannot, be controlled by providers. 

Russell has taken cases to appeal before the Missouri Supreme Court, the Southern and Eastern Districts of the Missouri Court of Appeals, the Illinois Court of Appeals, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh and Eighth Circuits. Reported appellate cases include: 

• Huck v. Missouri Baptist Medical Center, 571 S.W.3d 243 (Mo. App. E.D. 2019) 
• Woodall v Christian Hospital NE-NW, 473 S.W.3d 649 (Mo. App. E.D. 2015) 
• Smith v. Tabakian and Tenet Healthsystem SL, Inc., 284 S.W.3d 775 (Mo. App. E.D. 2009) 
• Bohac v. Walsh, 223 S.W.3d 858 (Mo. App. E.D. 2007) 
• Brooks v. State, 128 S.W.3d 844 (Mo. 2004) 
• Witters v. Hicks, 790 N.E.2d 5 (Ill. App. 5 Dist. 2003) 
• Bella v. Turner, 30 S.W.3d 892 (Mo. App. S.D. 2000)