Georgia Jury Awards $6.7 Million in Malpractice Case

A jury in Columbus, Ga., has awarded $6.7 million in a 10-year legal battle involving an Alabama man who said his intestine was punctured during a hernia operation.

The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reports that the jury on Wednesday awarded the money to Thomas and Linda Jackson of Salem, Ala.

The couple had sued a doctor and a Columbus surgical center, claiming that the 2002 operation led to an abdominal infection that left Thomas Jackson bedridden in the intensive care unit of a Columbus hospital for nearly six months.

Columbus lawyer Ben Land, who represented the Jacksons, said the crippling effects of Thomas Jackson’s long hospital stay ended his career, and compelled his wife to give up her job to become his caretaker.