Federal Judge Awards Florida Man $1 Million in Medical Malpractice Case

By Daniel Hawn

Published on August 02, 2005

The plaintiff in the case was Jackie C. Heavener, a 72-year-old Korean War veteran from Astor. U.S. District Judge Stephan Mickle presided over the nonjury trial. The full value of the judgment entered against the government was $1,034,729.

In 2002, surgeons at the medical center performed gall bladder surgery on Heavener. According to the judge's decision, Heavener subsequently suffered a bile leak that went unnoticed by his doctors.

Court documents show that Heavener began experiencing pain when a nurse removed his stomach drain four days following his surgery.

Despite complaints of severe pain, doctors waited four days from the time they removed the drain to perform a second surgery to remove bile from Heavener's stomach, according to court records.

Heavener was later diagnosed with bile peritonitis, a potentially fatal condition in which the membrane surrounding the abdominal cavity becomes inflamed. According to court records, Heavener's condition was the result of the bile leak he suffered from surgery.

An attorney for the medical center could not be contacted for comment on the decision.

Heavener said he was happy with the award and that it would help to provide his wife, Betty, with a future.

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