Jury Awards $1 Million in Fatal Surgery

A Van Nuys Superior Court jury Wednesday awarded just over $1 million to the widow and three children of a Chatsworth man who died after surgeons accidentally cut a major vein and failed to fix it during what was to have been routine back surgery.

Because of a previous settlement and a state law, however, the family will collect $435,000.

Richard Mark Levinson, a 32-year-old painting company foreman, died of a pulmonary embolism in February, 1987, 26 hours after undergoing surgery at Rancho Encino Hospital.

The Superior Court lawsuit filed on behalf of Levinson’s widow, Debra Kay, 35, and three children, named the hospital, three doctors and the anesthesiologist as defendants, charging wrongful death caused by medical malpractice.

The jury assessed general damages of $632,700 against two surgeons--Drs. Jerome Friedland of Reseda and Gerald Paul of Encino--and against Dr. Randolph H. Noble of Encino, the internist the family’s suit said failed to detect the opened vein. The jury also assessed economic damages--the dead man’s estimated future earnings of $395,258--against the three.

The Levinsons’ attorney, John A. Girardi, said Richard Mark Levinson went to Friedland in January, 1987, for treatment of a ruptured disk.

A month later, Friedland and Paul performed surgery, during which Levinson’s vena cava was accidentally cut, Girardi said.

Levinson’s blood pressure dropped precipitously and Noble was called in but failed to diagnose the cause, Girardi said.

Superior Court Judge Robert M. Letteau said the jury found Friedland liable for 50% of the damages on the grounds that regardless of who cut the vein, Friedland should have diagnosed the problem.

Paul was found liable for 20% and Noble for 30%, Letteau said. The jury found no responsibility on the part of the hospital or the anesthesiologist, Dr. Lois Chan.