Beware of words while you operate, this patient sued doctors for $1.75 million
A colonoscopy and a conversation that went wrong in Virginia
Gastroenterologist performing a colonoscopy, the anesthesiologist and a medical assistant had a conversation which was accidentally recorded by the patient.
Tiffany Ingham, the anesthesiologist commented on the sleeping patient
“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.”
The medical assistant noted that the patient had a rash on his arm.
Ingham was recorded saying that the assistant may catch “some syphilis on your arm or something,” adding that “it’s probably tuberculosis in the penis, so you’ll be all right.”
After hearing the recording, the man sued the two doctors and their practices for defamation and malpractice, winning $500,000 after a three-day trial.
The trail
The gastroenterologist, Soloman Shah, was dismissed from the case, although he can be heard on the recording making an Ebola comment while talking about the rash and did not stop Ingham from talking about the patient.
The man received $100,000 for defamation, $200,000 for medical malpractice and $200,000 for punitive damages, although he was originally seeking $1.75 million.
Video was considered as an evidence in a defamation and medical malpractice lawsuit. The surgery took place on April 18, 2013. Virginia is a “one-party consent” state. Only one person involved needed to agree to the recording, where as this would not be acceptable evidence in other states.
