"A federal judge has awarded $749,000 to the estate of a World War II veteran who lost much of his vision during surgery at the Veterans Administration medical facility in Jackson.
U.S. District Judge Tom Lee said in a footnote to Monday’s 18-page ruling that he was inclined to award more money for Charles West’s suffering, “which clearly has been extreme,” but was limited by Mississippi’s pain-and-suffering cap in such lawsuits.
West, who owned a grocery store in Greenville before moving to Brandon after his wife died, claimed in his suit that he suffered damage to the corneas of both eyes during a blepharoplasty, a procedure to remove sagging skin between the eyebrow and the eye lid.
West’s injury most likely occurred when a nurse used an undiluted Betadine solution or scrub during preparation for his surgery on March 10, 2006, Lee said.
“After the malpractice, the VA called Mr. West, his 83-year-old sister and his niece into a meeting and told them he had an allergic reaction. They lied to him,” West’s attorney, Billy Quin, said Wednesday. “If they just would have said this, ’We messed up, but we’re going to take care of you’ and then followed through and taken care of him there probably never would have been a lawsuit.”
An attorney for the VA did not respond to messages left by The Associated Press."
Full Article: Estate of late WWII vet gets $749,000 over surgery
By HOLBROOK MOHR • Associated Press Writer • July 22, 2009
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