"A jury's recent $18 million verdict in San Diego, later cut in half by California's medical malpractice regulations, illustrates changes to a state law that limited payments for more than 50 years. The case, which seeks compensation for a botched brain surgery that caused a debilitating stroke in an otherwise healthy patient, shows how increases in long-standing caps on non-economic damages, and on the fees that attorneys receive if they win, have changed the legal landscape statewide."
"These changes are the result of Assembly Bill 35, legislation that took effect in 2023, the same year that Phuong Ho, 54, began experiencing minor discomfort in her head. Medical imaging revealed a tumor growing on her pituitary gland. Told that the mass could eventually grow large enough to impinge upon her nearby optic nerve, she underwent minimally invasive surgery at Sharp Memorial Hospital on Jan. 26, 2023."
A San Diego jury awarded $18 million in a malpractice suit over a botched pituitary surgery that caused a debilitating stroke; state malpractice rules later cut the award in half. The changes follow Assembly Bill 35 (effective 2023), which increased long-standing caps on non-economic damages and altered attorney fee structures, reshaping malpractice outcomes statewide. The patient, Phuong Ho, underwent minimally invasive surgery after imaging revealed a pituitary tumor threatening her optic nerve. During the procedure the carotid artery was damaged, producing a stroke that left partial right-side paralysis and permanently altered her active life and career.
Read at www.sandiegouniontribune.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]