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The Region - News from May 2, 1985

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About 100 demonstrators, some in wheelchairs because of medical injuries, protested California’s medical malpractice laws. The group, demonstrating in front of the State Office Building at 1st Street and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, included Harry Jordan of Long Beach, whose lawsuit after having his one healthy kidney removed by mistake received wide notice. “I’m in desperate straits,” said Jordan, 64. “And I’m extremely disappointed that I can’t be compensated for this mistake.” A Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded Jordan more than $5 million in malpractice damages, but a judge reduced that to $286,000 to comply with state law, according to Tom Dempsey of the California Trial Lawyers Assn. The association and its Los Angeles chapter helped organize the demonstration.

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