Salem Man Awarded $210K for Medical Malpractice

Shannon Weidemann

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A Salem man had surgery on his gall bladder in August 1999. He was in pain following the surgery and visited with two doctors. Both of the doctors failed to diagnose a bile leak and he needed to have emergency surgery to fix the problem. He sued for medical malpractice and the jury awarded him and his wife $210,000.

Kevin Cummings said he first went to Dr. Lakshmanan about pain following the surgery and was referred to Dr. Jha who also didn't diagnose the problem during one visit to his office. After the surgery, Cummings indicated he was off work for several months at Tri-County Electric and developed post traumatic stress disorder. The two doctor's maintained that bile leaks sometime develop after surgery which is noone's fault. Both claimed to have adequately reviewed Cummings case and say the biloma may have developed after they saw him.

The Marion County jury deliberated for several hours after hearing testimony for 8 days. The surgery took place at a hospital in Kansas City.

If you would like to learn more about medical malpractice, please visit InjuryBoard's Medical Malpractice information page.