A Virginia patient recorded his colonoscopy procedure and discovered the offensive remarks that the attending physicians made while he was under anesthesia. The patient filed a lawsuit and was awarded $500,000 as payment for defamation and punitive damages.
According to UK's the Daily Mail, the patient underwent a colonoscopy in April 2013 and inadvertedly recorded the audio of the whole procedure. The man, who refused to disclose his identity, pressed the record button of a smartphone prior the start of the procedure, with the intention of capturing the doctor's post operation instructions following the surgery -- thinking he may still be groggy from the anesthesia and won't be able to capture the instructions properly. Upon playback, he was surprised to hear the anesthesiologist saying she "wanted to punch him in the face," as well as accusing him of having a sexually transmitted disease.
The 42-year old anesthesiologist, Tiffany Ingham, was recorded to have said several offensive remarks while the patient was under sedation. The lawsuit states that the recording captured Ingham mocking the amount of anesthetic needed to sedate the man, followed by comments implying that the man had syphilis or tuberculosis, reports the Washington Post. Even the gastroenterologist who performed the colonoscopy, Soloman Shah, made insulting remarks during operation and did not discourage Ingham from her comments or actions.
Aside from the unpleasant chatter, the recording also captured the doctors' discussion to avoid the man after the procedure, instructing an assistant to lie to him and placing a false diagnosis on the patient's chart -- writing that the patient had hemorrhoids, when he did not. This prompted the patient to sue both doctors and their practices for defamation and medical malpractice.
The patient's legal counsel, Mikhael Charnoff and Scott Perry, had asked for a $1.75million judgement, but got $500,000 instead. Two weeks ago, the Fairfax County jury instructed the anesthesiologist to pay $500,000, which includes $100,000 for defamation ($50,000 each for the comments about the man having syphilis and tuberculosis), $200,000 for medical malpractice and $200,000 in punitive damages. The court dismissed the case against the gastroenterologist, Soloman Shah.
Washington Post further reports Farid Khairzada, one of the jurors, saying that "there was not much defense because everything as on tape." He also commented that the jury decided to award the patient the payment, as a compromise between one juror who thought the man deserved nothing and another who thought he deserved more. "We finally came to a conclusion," said Khairzada, "that we have to give him something, just to make sure that this doesn't happen again."
It is still unclear whether Tiffany Ingham or Soloman Shah will face disciplinary action from the Virginia Board of Medicine.
