Menu

$20 Million Wrongful Death Verdict

A jury trial in the wrongful death case of Paulett Hall has ended in favor of the victim’s family, who were awarded $20,000,000 for their punitive damages.

Hall, a mother of two, was just 32 years old at the time of her death, caused when she aspirated bile into her lungs while she was being anesthetized.  She was to undergo exploratory surgery to find the source of the abdominal pain she’d been experiencing when the tragic error occurred.

Hall’s family is relieved and says they hope their lawsuit will prevent this from happening to anyone else.  They claimed that doctors ignored the more than ten risk factors that Hall presented which made her highly susceptible to pulmonary aspiration.  Despite these risks, Hall’s family alleges that doctors did not take the appropriate precautions.

Surprisingly, even the defendants admitted that there were certain techniques that should have been employed, such as the use of what’s known as rapid sequence induction, to prevent possible aspiration, but they failed to do so.  In fact, just about every medical expert that testified during the trial, including those for the defense, agreed that the doctors in question deviated from the standard of care they should have provided to Ms. Hall.

The entire $20 million was for the punitive damages suffered by the victim’s family.  This is based mainly on Alabama state law, which states that wrongful death damages are meant to reflect the enormity of the wrong while at the same time protect the public from such future incidents.

Leave a Comment