Malpractice Victim Gets $3.8 Million

A Superior Court jury awarded $3.8 million in damages Thursday to a 30-year-old man who was left blind and partly disabled after complications during what was to have been a minor surgery on his ankle.

John Chavez of Fountain Valley won the malpractice case against Dr. Donald Altig, who administered the general anesthetic during the 1984 operation at Humana Hospital-Huntington Beach, said Chavez’ attorney, Wylie A. Aitken. Orange County Superior Court Judge Luis A. Cardenas presided over the six-week jury trial.

Altig and his attorney could not be reached for comment Thursday. However, the doctor’s wife said that despite the verdict, her husband is not guilty of malpractice.

According to Aitken, Chavez had broken his ankle July, 1984, in a moped accident, and had orthopedic pins placed in the ankle while it healed. Chavez checked into the hospital to have the pins removed that October.

During that procedure, Chavez--a former athlete and lifeguard--went into cardiac arrest and slipped into a coma that lasted 3 1/2 weeks, according to Aitken. When he awoke, he was blind.

He continues to suffer short-term memory loss, impaired coordination and tactile difficulties, Aitken said.

Though Chavez can walk and was articulate enough to testify at his trial, he cannot learn Braille because of his impaired sense of touch, Aitken said.

Chavez’s lawsuit alleged that Altig’s negligence caused Chavez to go into cardiac arrest.

Altig’s attorneys argued that Chavez had an undetected heart defect that caused the problems, according to Aitken.