$22.2 Million Verdict for Woman Paralyzed After Spinal Hematoma at Southern Tennessee Medical Center

On April 11, 2006, Bette Donathan, 62, was in an automobile accident in Winchester, Tennessee, and broke her lower right leg. She was taken to Southern Tennessee Medical Center, where staff prepared her for surgery to repair the fracture. Before the procedure, medical personnel inserted an epidural catheter to manage post-operative pain. What was not adequately accounted for was that Donathan was taking blood thinners because of a mechanical heart valve, a condition that sharply elevated her risk of bleeding into the spinal canal if the catheter was later removed.

The catheter was taken out on a Saturday. By Sunday morning Donathan woke to severe, escalating pain. Hospital staff gave her pain-killing medication without recognizing what was happening inside her spine. By Monday morning she could no longer move her legs. A spinal hematoma, blood pooling and pressing against the spinal cord, had caused irreversible damage. Donathan was left paralyzed from the waist down.

Nashville attorneys Randy Kinnard and Daniel Clayton of Kinnard Clayton and Beveridge filed suit in the Eastern District of Tennessee on behalf of Donathan and her husband, Ben Donathan. The case went to trial in Chattanooga in early 2010, lasting nearly two months. The core issue for the jury was whether the medical team at Southern Tennessee Medical Center should have recognized and managed the bleeding risk before inserting and later removing the catheter, and whether the failure to diagnose the hematoma on Sunday cost Donathan any chance of recovery.

The jury apportioned fault among four parties: surgeon Delores K. White, D.O. (50 percent), anesthesiologist Ronald Gordon, M.D. (40 percent), nurse anesthetist Christopher A. Will, CRNA (5 percent), and Cumberland Healthcare Group (5 percent). The jury awarded Bette Donathan $19,266,261 for her injuries, pain, and future care needs. Her husband Ben received $3 million for loss of consortium, bringing the combined total to roughly $22.2 million.

At the time of the verdict, the judgment was reported by the Chattanooga Times Free Press as the largest single-plaintiff medical malpractice award in Tennessee history. Court records filed with the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee, confirm the amended judgment entering the full award against the named defendants.