$35.6 Million Verdict After Elective Back Surgery Left Woman with Severe Brain Damage

The patient was a 59-year-old mother of two living with intractable back pain. Her doctors recommended a lumbar laminectomy, a common procedure to decompress the spinal canal. The surgery, however, went catastrophically wrong.

During the operation, the iliac artery was disrupted, triggering severe and rapid blood loss. By the time surgeons controlled the hemorrhage, the patient had experienced 23 minutes of hypoxia. The oxygen deprivation left her with a severe brain injury, stripping away her independence and her ability to function without around-the-clock care. Her projected lifetime care costs alone were estimated at $8.7 million.

Joseph Cammarata of Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata and Siegel took the case to trial in Arlington County Circuit Court. Over seven days, the firm presented the full scope of what the negligence had cost: the lost wages, the staggering life-care needs, and the human reality of a woman reduced to total dependence after a procedure intended to help her walk without pain. The jury returned a verdict of $35,620,902, one of the largest in Virginia that year.

Then came Virginia's medical malpractice damages cap. State law at the time capped recoveries, and the $35.6 million verdict was reduced to a judgment of $2.2 million, less than 10 percent of the patient's projected medical costs. Her husband testified before the Virginia Senate about what that reduction meant for the family.

The case became a central exhibit in the ongoing debate over Virginia's cap. Cammarata authored a Washington Post opinion piece calling for the law's repeal, and worked with state legislators on bills to raise or eliminate the ceiling. Virginia Lawyers Weekly reported on the verdict and the legislative push in both 2020 and 2022. The $33.4 million that the jury awarded and the law erased remained uncollected.