Man awarded $40M for heart damage caused by malfunctioning equipment
Paramjit Singh, 54, of Mount Vernon Washington checked into Providence Everett Medical Center for cardiac bypass surgery. What he received was a heart transplant. During the operation a monitor manufactured by Edwards Lifesciences Corp malfunctioned, causing a catheter to overheat and burn his heart, irretrievably damaging it. He now suffers other problems as a result of the malfunction and must take anti-rejection drugs the rest of his life. A Superior Court jury awarded Singh $40.1 million. The award included $8.35 million in punitive damages. Edwards Lifesciences Corp blames Providence Everett Medical Center for using a damaged cable and the hospital blames Edwards for failing to disclose a problem with the monitor. The jury ordered Edwards to pay 99.99 percent of the damages, leaving Providence responsible for .01 percent. Edwards was also ordered to pay Providence $310,000 in damages.
