Wheeler v. Central Vermont Medical Center, Inc.

Defendant Hospital corporation appeals from a judgment entered on a jury verdict awarding plaintiff compensatory and punitive damages for negligently granting privileges to a surgeon who performed unsuccessful surgery on her, with resultant injuries. We affirm the judgment on liability and compensatory damages and reverse the award of punitive damages.

Plaintiff alleged that in March 1981 Dr. Arthur Wright performed a gastroplasty (a weight-reduction operation also known as “stomach stapling”) and then failed to treat her properly, though alerted to numerous postoperative symptoms, including…