Christopher Zinski was a 50-year-old partner at Schiff Hardin when he checked himself into the Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in suburban Chicago late one Saturday night in September 2012.

After complaining of a headache, neck pain, disorientation and vomiting, Zinski was told by hospital staffers that he had a dehydration headache. He was given an IV bag and sent home, recalled his wife, Patricia “Pattie” Zinski, a former associate at Sidley Austin.