Anesthesia Wrongful Death Case Appealing a Previous Award for Punitive Damages*

The plaintiff in this instance is Mary Bowen, as Administrator of the Estate of Johnny Cymbalta (Deceased). The defendants are LaRoche Medical Associates et al and Anthony Karsh.

This is a judgment appeal from an earlier court asking that the jury award be reduced from $5 million in punitive damages to $2.5 million. Compensatory damages were awarded in the amount of $368,086. The defendant clinic owner was found vicariously liable for the anesthesia wrongful death of the deceased and the malpractice of defendant physicians.

The cause of death for the deceased was complication of anesthesia and failure to have a working laryngoscope in the operating room. The judge said the trial court held the defendant vicariously liable in this anesthesia wrongful death for the malpractice of the defendant's anesthesiologist and surgeon.

The first court also found the defendant clinic hired and paid its doctors and controlled all aspects of its administration. It was proven the deceased came directly to the clinic for surgery and it assigned its cosmetic surgeries to certain doctors.

The relationship between the clinic and the doctors showed there was an agency between the clinic and its physicians "regardless of whether the physicians were independent contractors or employees of the clinic."

Punitive damages in this anesthesia wrongful death case were properly submitted to the jury with evidence of reprehensible conduct showing a gross indifference to patient care.

The clinic said it was affiliated with world-renowned surgeons and did not verify physicians' credentials. It fraudulently billed insurance companies for procedures not performed or cosmetic in nature.

The defendant anesthesiologist was allowed to work independently at the clinic despite restrictions on her license requiring her to be supervised. The medical examiner said the decedent died from complications from general and local anesthesia.

The defendant surgeon didn't meet with the deceased, did not get consent to the surgery, and was allowed to fill in for another doctor at the last minute after the deceased was already under general anesthesia.

After the surgery the deceased's blood pressure and heart rate dropped rapidly and there was no functioning laryngoscope in the OR to reintubate him. This ultimately resulted in his death.

The court indicated they found the award to be excessive. Despite the doctor's conduct being "reprehensible and reckless" and resulting in the deceased's death the award of $5 million was reduced to $2.5 million.