Ready, Family Awarded $24.7 Million : Courts: Wife of Phillie infielder wins lawsuit over heart attack caused by diet pills.

MILWAUKEE — A jury Friday awarded Philadelphia Phillie infielder Randy Ready and his family $24.7 million, finding that a physician prescribed diet pills that caused the player’s wife to have a disabling heart attack.

The ruling in the eight-week trial is believed to be the largest personal-injury award in Wisconsin history.

The lawsuit against Vincenta Yap of Milwaukee alleged that, in 1986, Dorene Ready, now 27, sought help in losing weight from the doctor, who prescribed Ionamin, an appetite suppressant. Dorene Ready later suffered a heart attack and now is a spastic quadriplegic with permanent brain damage.

“The money will really be able to help Dorene,” Laing said. “They want to give her therapy. She’s at a point in her life where she needs this.”

Yap’s attorney, Sam Lieb, declined to comment and didn’t say whether an appeal would be filed. In addition to Yap, the defendants were St. Paul Fire & Casualty Insurance Co., and Wisconsin Patients Corp. Fund.

Laing said Yap still was practicing in Milwaukee, but that the doctor would be reviewed by the Medical Examining Board.

Yap could not be reached for comment.

Ready, who played for the Milwaukee Brewers before he was traded to the San Diego Padres in 1986, was not available for comment. Dorene Ready was in Milwaukee for the trial, but returned to a nursing home in Del Mar Friday.

The jury, which heard testimony for eight weeks, awarded the Readys $19.48 million for medical costs, $4.26 million to Randy Ready for loss of companionship and child care, and $1 million to the couple’s three boys.

The jury chose not to award punitive damages.

The Readys received a $160,000 settlement in January from a former pharmacist over the diet pills. The man, R. James Bohn, has surrendered his pharmacist’s license.