MEDICAL: $5.1 Med-Mal Verdict in Jefferson County from death following surgery

$5.1 Million Medical Negligence Verdict in Jefferson County reported in Courier Journal.  Story by Jason Riley follows

Jury gives widow $5.1 million
Spouse died after elective surgery
By Jason Riley  September 5, 2008

Norman Gene Carroll, the brother of former Gov. Julian Carroll, died Feb. 4, 2003, a week after an elective surgery in which he was supposed to have a deep brain stimulating device inserted.

On Friday, his widow, 73-year-old Retha Carroll, was awarded almost $5.1 million from medical staff involved in the surgery, including $3.5 million for her husband's pain and suffering, $1.5 million for the loss of consortium and about $96,000 in medical expenses.

Jewish Hospital was dismissed from the lawsuit a few years ago. * * *

Shannon Ragland, editor and publisher of Kentucky Trial Court Review, said the pain and suffering award was particularly high given the relatively short amount of time Norman Carroll suffered -- "though it was a horrible way to go."

And the $1.5 million consortium award, which allows claims for loss of companionship of spouses from injury until death -- was the largest for a wife in Kentucky since at least 1997, when Ragland began tracking state jury verdicts.

* * * The lawsuit, filed in 2004, claimed that doctors and nurses who were working on Carroll on Jan. 28, 2003, did not stop the surgery and take appropriate action when he started struggling to breathe.

Click on heading for entire story at CJ.