PICKENS — A Pickens County jury decided last Friday that an Easley man is entitled to $2.4 million in a civil case against an Easley doctor.
A jury in the Pickens County Court of Common Pleas unanimously found in favor of Michael Charles Blair, representative of the estate of Rita Carol Blair individually and on behalf of statutory beneficiaries of Rita Blair for wrongful death, survival action and loss of consortium claims against Dr. John M. Warren and Easley OB-GYN Associates, P.A.
Michael Blair, husband of the late Rita Blair, in the official court documents said that in 2007 his wife went into surgery for vaginal proplapse while in the care of Warren at Palmetto Baptist Hospital in Easley. According to legal documents, following surgery Blair’s hemoglobin dropped from 15.6 to as low as 7.4.
The document said that Blair was discharged, and a day later called and reported nausea, inability to eat and lack of bowel movement.
Blair was taken less than 48 hours later to the emergency room and diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia and distension of her abdomen. A CT scan later showed a large amount of fluid in her peritoneum that was determined to be blood density.
Eight days after surgery by another doctor, who performed a laparotomy, a foul smelling fluid was found. The suit states that the other doctor determined that Blair had suffered a perforation of her colon. An attempt was made to repair the infected peritoneal hemotoma. Blair died less than two weeks later.
Although Warren was not found grossly negligent by the jury, Blair was awarded $700,000 in the survival action claim, $700,000 in the wrongful death action claim and $1 million for the loss of consortium claim.