A Wayne County, Mich., jury has awarded $21 million to the family of Bimla Nayyar, who died in 2012 after a brain surgery that wasn’t supposed to be performed.
According to Geoffrey Fieger, the family’s attorney, Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn mixed up CT scan results and staff mistakenly thought the 81-year-old Nayyar, who was at the hospital to be treated for jaw displacement, was suffering from bleeding in her brain. She was sent for an immediate brain operation that involved sawing out part of her skull.
When they found there was no bleeding in the brain, Fieger alleged that the hospital did not inform the family the wrong procedure was performed. Nayyar remained on life support for 60 days before passing away.
“Oakwood Hospital also has never informed the State of Michigan of its mistake as it was required to do,” Fieger said in a statement. “Also, it lied in affidavits to the court about its horrific mistake, claiming nothing wrong was done.”
Oakwood Hospital has not admitted any wrongdoing and will appeal the verdict, according to the Detroit Free Press. The hospital issued a statement saying it is “very concerned about how the details of this case have been portrayed,” but could not comment further because it is an active case.
Evan joined TriMed in 2011, writing primarily for Health Imaging. Prior to diving into medical journalism, Evan worked for the Nine Network of Public Media in St. Louis. He also has worked in public relations and education. Evan studied journalism at the University of Missouri, with an emphasis on broadcast media.