North Carolinians may have read about a federal court granting an Army veteran $8.3 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit against John Cochran VA Medical Center. The lawsuit followed a routine procedure that led to the longtime Missouri postal worker suffering severe brain damage and losing a leg.
In February 2009, the Army veteran went to John Cochran VA Medical Center after having chest pain to have a cardiac stent inserted. Soon after the procedure, the surgical site in his right upper thigh began to swell and bleed. The man had to wait for a week to be admitted to the medical center for surgery to repair an artery at the site. The medical team discovered an infection there as well.
Lawyers for the man accused the medical team of unnecessarily delaying the corrective surgery and incorrectly using infected tissue to repair the artery. The lawsuit also claims that further doctorm negligence caused significant blood loss that allegedly led to severe brain damage. In addition, the infection in his right leg had to be amputated due to an onset of gangrene.
In October, a two-day trial was held, and a district judge ruled in favor of the man and his wife, awarding them a total of $8.3 million in compensation. The man, who is now paralyzed, was awarded $6.8 million, and his wife and primary caregiver was awarded $1.5 million.
The sufferer of a doctor error deserves to receive compensation for the medical and financial hardship that the error may have caused. Medical malpractice lawyers could help the injured party to uncover negligence in order to pursue this restitution. They may be able to use the testimonies of medical professionals to establish that the doctors failed to meet the required standards of care while treating their client.
Source: St. Louis Today, “St. Louis man wins $8.3 million malpractice award against John Cochran VA hospital“, Blythe Bernhard, November 19, 2013