Woman Gets $65M In Hospital Suit
Robert Gearty
A Brooklyn woman was awarded $65.1 million by a Bronx Supreme Court jury last night in a malpractice suit against a city hospital that misdiagnosed stomach pains as gastritis.
In fact, said her attorney, she suffered from an obstruction that forced the removal of most of her intestine.
The jury returned the verdict in favor of Agnes Whittaker, 55, formerly of the Bronx, in her suit against Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx after a three-week trial, said lawyer Anthony Gentile. The misdiagnosis occurred in July 1982, and the subsequent operation forced Whittaker to take food through a tube, he said.
Suzanne Halpin of the Health and Hospitals Corporation said she could not immediately confirm details of the award.