Colorado Hospital Patient Holds on to $15 Million Damages Award

A Colorado man demonstrated good cause for lifting the state’s $1 million cap on medical malpractice damages in a lawsuit stemming from back surgery where doctors severed his iliac vein, the state’s top court said.

Daniel Scholle spent 100 days in Sky Ridge Medical Center’s intensive care unit being treated for “catastrophic” injuries caused by the error, including cardiac arrest, severe bleeding, surgical site infection, kidney damage, respiratory distress, stroke, and the amputation of his toes, a split Colorado Supreme Court said Monday.

Under these circumstances, it would be unfair to reduce the jury’s award to the statutory limit, the ...