Former Football Player Wins $4.2M In Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

A former University of Nevada-Las Vegas football player won a $4.2 million verdict in his medical malpractice lawsuit. The player, UNLV linebacker Beau Orth, alleged in his medical malpractice lawsuit that a Las Vegas neurosurgeon operated on the wrong disc in his spine. The jury concluded that the surgeon, Dr. Albert Capanna, acted negligently in his handling of the operation. Dr. Campanna also faces the potential suspension of his medical license by the state medical board.

Details of the Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

According to medical records used in his medical malpractice lawsuit, Mr. Orth complained of pain and loss of feeling in his left leg. An MRI showed a hernia in the L5-S1 disc in his spine. Dr. Capanna scheduled Mr. Orth for surgery on the herniated disc. During the surgery, Dr. Capanna reportedly operated on the L4-L5 disc, the disc directly above the herniated disc. The medical malpractice lawsuit claimed that the surgery on the healthy disc left the patient in even more pain, costing him his football career.

State Board Probes Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Testimony

The testimony in the Capanna medical malpractice lawsuit came to the attention of the Nevada Board of Medical Examiners. The state board had filed a complaint against the surgeon in December 2012. The complaint stemmed from allegations that the doctor altered records in 2010 related to the Orth medical malpractice lawsuit. The mistaken surgery on Mr. Orth could potentially persuade the board to suspend or revoke Dr. Capanna’s license to practice medicine in Nevada.

Capanna’s History of Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

The Orth medical malpractice lawsuit was not the first time Dr. Capanna has been accused of botching a surgical procedure. Records from the state medical board showed that Dr. Capanna was a defendant in at least six prior medical malpractice lawsuits. The records also showed that he paid over $5 million to settle those cases. In one of those cases, Dr. Capanna operated on a five-month-old boy in 1991. According to a 1998 medical malpractice lawsuit, the doctor misdiagnosed a cyst on the boy’s brain. The boy underwent more than a dozen surgeries before he died in 1995.

Botched Operation Resembles Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Case

In an instance that resembled the Orth medical malpractice lawsuit, Dr. Capanna operated on another UNLV football player in 2011. The player, defensive end Alvin Amilcar, also lost his football career when Dr. Capanna operated on the wrong disc. Unlike Mr. Orth, Mr. Amlicar chose not to file a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctor for the botched surgery.

Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal

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