The jury awarded the money Friday after Circuit Judge Greg Bartlett ruled that Dr. George Hall and St. Elizabeth Medical Center were negligent. Ms. Murphy's estate did not argue that the procedures caused her death. Instead, the lawsuit maintained that she suffered greatly because of the three operations, including a mastectomy, she underwent in those 14 months. During the trial, Hall and the hospital argued that Ms. Murphy had numerous other medical conditions that caused her to suffer and contributed to her inability to recover quickly from the surgery.
Medical procedure requires that sponges be counted before and after any surgery.
Leaving a sponge in a person's body is malpractice, Bartlett ruled, citing decisions by Kentucky courts. Hall and the hospital maintained that nurses counted the sponges before and after the original operation, and could not explain the discrepancy. For several months afterward, she complained of pain coming from an open wound in the breast that did not heal. X-rays found the sponge in December 1998, but it was not removed until March 9, 1999. The breast was removed nine days later, and nine days after that, additional surgery was performed to help the wound heal properly.