A Maryland man who suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed was awarded $4.2 million in a medical malpractice suit filed against the defendant neurosurgeon. The damages were awarded in 2.5 hours after a trial that last a week.
The case centered around a procedure which took place in November 2012. The defendant performed spinal cord surgery on the plaintiff, after which the plaintiff was to rest for three days in the hospital before being discharged to a rehabilitation facility. Allegedly, the day following the surgery, the defendant neurosurgeon restarted the patient on his high blood pressure medication, even though his blood pressure readings at the time were normal.
The patient fainted due to low blood pressure, and then suffered a stroke, leaving him paralyzed below the mid-chest. Allegedly, the defendant neurosurgeon wrote in the medical records that the stroke was a result of low blood pressure owing to the medication, as well as communicating this verbally to the patient. However, he testified in court that the stroke was the result of a blood clot.
The jury awarded the 64-year-old man and his wife $4.2 million, $3,743,388.30 were economic damages and $1 million of which were non-economic damages. The award for non-economic damges will be reduced to $710,000 as a result of the cap on non-economic medical malpractice damages in Maryland.