Doctor to Pay for Trashing Sleeping Patient in Reston Operating Room

An anesthesiologist has been ordered by a Fairfax County judge to pay a local man $500,000 after the doctor said insulting things about the man while he was sedated for a colonoscopy at a Reston facility in 2013, The Washington Post reported.

The man, who lives in Vienna, said in his defamation and medical malpractice lawsuit that the anesthesiologist, Tiffany M. Ingham, who is apparently no longer practicing in the area, mocked him while he was asleep.

The whole thing was recorded. The man had turned his smartphone’s audio recorder on in order to make sure he accurately understood his doctor’s post-op instructions.

It turns out the whole surgery was taped. On the audio, Ingham is heard saying she wanted to punch the patient in the face; called him annoying, a wimp, and other disparaging names; and accused him of having syphilis and tuberculosis.

Listen to the audio on the link below.

After a three-day trial, the jury awarded the man $100,000 for defamation — $50,000 each for the comments about the man having syphilis and tuberculosis — and $200,000 for medical malpractice, as well as the $200,000 in punitive damages, the Post reported.

One of the jurors said the man’s attorneys had asked for $1.75 million, and that the $500,000 award was a compromise between one juror who thought the man deserved nothing and at least one who thought he deserved more.