Tennessee Couple Wins $19.2 Million in Malpractice Suit

A woman who sued after surgery for a broken leg left her partially paralyzed has been awarded $19.2 million by a federal court jury in Chattanooga that also returned a $3 million verdict for her husband.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported that jurors reached a verdict Friday for 62-year-old Bette Donathan and her husband, Ben.

Donathan’s attorney, Randy Kinnard of Nashville, said his client has been a paraplegic since the medical mistake that followed an April 2006 wreck in Winchester.

The judgment is to be paid by Winchester surgeon Delores K. White, Winchester anesthesiologist Ronald Gordon, nurse anesthetist Christopher Will and Cumberland Healthcare Group. Their attorneys declined comment.