Fatal surgery results in $1 million malpractice verdict
A fatal mistake in a gastric bypass surgery resulted in a $1 million medical malpractice verdict. Karin Lobaina, whose husband died following surgery at Northern Michigan Hospital about four years ago, won the verdict, though a last-minute settlement will reduce the true amount she receives, her attorney said. Physician Bruce Deckinga offered to settle about 15 minutes before jurors returned a verdict, said attorney Robert Sickels. Sickels declined to divulge the settlement, but said it was for the maximum limit of Deckinga's insurance policy, which he described as "quite modest.” "His liability under the (jury) verdict would have been significantly higher,” Sickels said. Jurors would have had Deckinga on the hook for 40 percent of the total $1.17 million verdict, which they calculated by multiplying Lobaina's annual income by the number of years he could have worked until age 62, plus $200,000 for "non-economic” damages. In addition to Deckinga's liability, jurors assigned 40 percent of the liability to Thomas Wertz, a physician at Grayling Mercy Hospital who was in charge of the emergency room when Lobaina's family reported to the hospital following the surgery. Sickels argued that Wertz, who made the decision to transfer Lobaina to Northern Michigan Hospital, should have recognized that the man was too sick for an hour-long ambulance ride.
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