Comatose woman awarded $18.6 million in malpractice suit
A woman who has been in a coma ever since she went to a hospital for hand surgery four years ago has been awarded $18.6 million in a malpractice lawsuit. Superior Court Judge C. Robert Jameson awarded the damages Thursday. He also found that attorneys for the University of California Irvine Medical Center hampered efforts to find out how Denise DeSoto, 38, suffered brain damage. DeSoto had two fingers amputated and two reattached after a 1993 traffic accident. Due to complications, she needed more surgery a week later on the reattached fingers. After 30 minutes in the recovery room, DeSoto turned blue from a lack of oxygen. Doctors found her breathing tube clogged with mucus, which blocked her air and led to cardiac arrest, according to court documents. DeSoto, a legal secretary and mother of two, never regained consciousness. She is living in a care center.
(AP, Sep. 27, 1997)
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