Jury Refuses to Dun Surgeon Over Patient’s Coma
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An Orange County jury refused Monday to award damages to the family of an Anaheim Hills woman left in a “twilight coma” after surgery two years ago.
The panel, asked to award a multimillion-dollar settlement in the medical malpractice lawsuit against Anaheim surgeon Timothy Lim, took about two hours to decide that he was not responsible for the brain injuries Judy Frumkin suffered. Frumkin was deprived of oxygen during follow-up surgery after having breast implants removed.
According to evidence at trial, Frumkin was deprived of oxygen for as long as 22 minutes after an anesthesiologist inserted a tube into her esophagus instead of an airway.
The anesthesiologist already has settled with the family for an undisclosed sum, as has North Anaheim SurgiCenter, where the procedure took place.
The woman’s attorney, Nathaniel Friedman, argued that Lim, as head of the team operating on Frumkin in 1997, failed to notice the error and should pay because he had “joint responsibility” for the patient’s well-being.
But defense attorney Marshall Silverberg told jurors Lim was not to blame. He said surgeons rely on anesthesiologists to do their job right.
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