A patient in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Reston, Virginia, was just awarded $500,000 by a civil jury after a trial in which it heard evidence of the patient’s doctors mocking him during a colonoscopy. The male patient had recorded the doctor’s post-operative instructions on his cell phone as he was being prepped for the surgery. Listening to the recording on the drive home, however, he discovered that he had forgotten to stop the recording and had inadvertently captured the entire procedure-including a series of disparaging remarks the doctors made at his expense while he was under anesthesia.
After the patient drifted off, the anesthesiologist, Tiffany Ingham, was recorded saying that “after five minutes of talking to you in pre-op, I wanted to punch you in the face and man you up a little bit.” She also baselessly implied that the patient had a venereal disease, called the patient a “retard,” mocked the amount of anesthesia that it would take to sedate him, and directed an assistant to note in the patient’s records that he had hemorrhoids when he did not. Another doctor, who was dismissed from the case, remarked that a third doctor they both knew “would eat him for lunch.”
After hearing both sides and the recording, the jury awarded the man $100,000 for defamation, $200,000 for medical malpractice, and $200,000 in punitive damages. One juror said, “we finally came to a conclusion that we have to give him something, just to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” The anesthesiologist was dismissed from her practice.
The attorneys of Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner have been representing patients against negligent doctors and hospitals for over 65 years. If you or someone you know has been the victim of medical malpractice, call us today at (713) 222-7211.