Judge almost doubles malpractice award for VA patient who was 'a prisoner in his own body'
Afederal court judge has reconsidered how much money to award in a malpractice case against the VA Medical Center in Buffalo, roughly doubling the amount to almost $4 million.
U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny changed how he calculated the award for pain and suffering, deciding to count every day of the nearly four months that Howard Southard, a U.S. Army veteran and former long-haul trucker, spent in intensive care before dying there in 2009.
Last summer, Skretny awarded $2.1 million in the medical malpractice lawsuit that blamed his doctors for improperly installing a stent graft in one of his arteries during a surgery, causing an irreparable loss of blood flow to his kidneys and eventually his death.
The family objected to the award, calling it too low, and asked for a new trial or amended judgment.
Read more: https://buffalonews.com/news/local/judge-almost-doubles-malpractice-award-for-va-patient-who-was-a-prisoner-in-his-own/article_442e90a0-930e-11eb-8a6d-13292a6d8f8b.html