New Mexico Jury Awards $2M for Botched Back Surgery

A Santa Fe, N.M. jury has awarded $2 million to a man whose back surgery was so badly botched he suffered cardiac arrest and required three more surgeries.

Matt McCann entered Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe in May 2008 for removal of a herniated disc. But the surgeon accidentally cut into a major artery and vein and didn’t notice the mistake.

McCann went into cardiac arrest 36 hours later and doctors discovered what had happened. McCann reportedly suffered damage to nerves that control his bladder and bowels, and brain damage.

The jury also ordered Christus St. Vincent to pay $50,000 to Stephanie Roberts, McCann’s former wife, based on the claim that the ordeal and changes in McCann’s personality caused by the trauma destroyed the couple’s marriage.

McCann’s attorneys had also asked jurors for punitive damages because hospital workers failed to notice that something was wrong with McCann after the surgery. Jurors declined to add the punitive damages.

The hospital’s attorneys could not be reached. McCann’s brother, John McCann, said he was “disappointed that the jury did not awarded punitive damages” in the case.

Matt McCann declined to comment on the verdict. Roberts did not return a call seeking comment.