A woman who underwent a double leg amputation has secured a significant legal victory more than a decade after the procedure.
In March 2013, Georgia-based teacher Jessica Powell collapsed in her home due to a combination of a hormone deficiency disease and a stomach virus.
She was swiftly taken to Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany for emergency care, where she was diagnosed with sepsis and shock. Subsequently, she was administered medication to elevate her dangerously low blood pressure.
However, it is claimed that medical professionals mishandled her treatment, resulting in Jessica, then 28, requiring both legs to be amputated above the knee.
According to court records, Jessica, now 40, was reportedly given an overdose of medication, as reported by Union-Bulletin.
She claimed that the drug Vasopressin was administered at a dosage two and a half times higher than the maximum recommended dose for over 40 hours.
Ultimately, Jessica pursued a malpractice lawsuit against a group of doctors and the hospital. After 12 years of legal proceedings, a jury reached a verdict on April 23 of this year.
Doctors Joe Morgan, James Palazzolo, and Thomas Ungarino, along with Albany Pulmonary and Critical Care Associates and Albany Vascular Specialist Center, were included in the lawsuit, all maintaining their innocence.
Reportedly, the jury took just 30 minutes to decide to award Jessica $70 million in damages, marking it one of Georgia’s largest medical malpractice awards.
Matt Cook, one of Jessica’s lead attorneys, remarked on the jury’s swift decision: “That should tell you everything you need to know about who was right.”
He added, “The verdict came as no surprise because we knew from day one that our client was clearly mistreated by her physicians.
“What drove the result was just the repeated denials and unwillingness to accept responsibility in the face of overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing.”
Despite the outcome, the attorneys representing the doctors and companies involved expressed their disagreement with the ruling.
“The physicians acted appropriately under extraordinarily difficult circumstances, and we respectfully disagree with the jury’s verdict and any notion that these respected physicians failed to meet the standard of care,” they said, as per Union-Bulletin.
“Unfortunately, the resulting bilateral above-the-knee amputations, while devastating, were an unavoidable consequence of the life-saving treatment provided.”