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A West Virginia jury ruled in favor of a family in a wrongful death lawsuit against a hospital who fraudulently covered up information about a woman’s death from her husband. The family was awarded $6.5 million in damages.
In September 2001, Hilda Boggs broke her ankle and had to undergo surgery at Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital. She was given anesthesia before the procedure and her heart stopped beating. Boggs died the next day in the hospital.
The lawsuit filed in 2003 alleged that the hospital concealed information about Boggs’ death from her husband Ray Boggs.
The jury ruled that Camden-Clark Hospital, Dr. Manish Koyawala, and nurse Evelyn Melvin acted fraudulently and negligently and their behavior was outrageous and deliberate.
“I think the verdict was appropriate because of the intentional misconduct,” said the plaintiff’s attorney Christopher Regan. “It’s not just a medical malpractice lawsuit. Records were destroyed, they attempted to corrupt witnesses. That is what justifies the verdict.”
According to the lawsuit, there was evidence showing that the hospital asked nurses and other medical staff to destroy notes on Hilda Boggs’ death. Furthermore, her medical records were botched and the details of her death kept hidden from her husband.
“It was very shocking…when you have documents from the hospital acknowledging they instructed nurses to destroy notes,” said Regan.
The four-man, two-woman jury awarded Ray Boggs $100,000 for the fraudulent misconduct of the hospital. He was also given $375,000 for past, present, and future pain and suffering due to behavior that “…was so outrageous that a reasonable person could not have been expected to endure it.”
In addition, Ray Boggs, his son, Hilda’s mother, and her brothers were awarded punitive damages for loss of consortium and solace.
The hospital plans to appeal the verdict.
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