Roswell, Ga.-based North Fulton Medical Center will pay a patient $8 million as a result of a seven-day trial in the Fulton County State Court, according to Daily Report.
Here are five insights:
1. The patient received $6.8 million and the patient's wife received $1.2 million in a loss of consortium claim.
2. The jury found the medical center at fault for paralyzing the patient, who underwent emergency spinal surgery after a car wreck in 2011. Charles Weaver, MD, of North Fulton Medical Center, performed a cervical decompression and anterior spinal fusion surgery on the patient. The jury did not find Dr. Weaver at fault in the case.
3. After the surgery, the man was recovering in the hospital and he alleged nurses moved him from a chair to a bed, re-breaking his neck in the process. The patient's wife claimed she saw the incident occur.
4. The nurses did not document the incident, and the hospital reported the event with the nurses never occurred.
5. The defendant's lawyers argued the patient's permanent damage could have been reversed or subdued if the nurses had reported the incident. The patient underwent a second surgery days after the injury; his legs are paralyzed.