The wife and daughter of a retired U.S. Army veteran who died from postsurgery complications have been awarded $15 million by a Fulton County jury that found two of the veteran’s doctors caused his death.
Myung and Susan Oh are entitled to $2 million for the conscious pain and suffering of their husband and father, Byung “Ben” Oh, as well as $13 million for the full value of his life, the jury decided Tuesday evening.
Earlier in the day, the jury in Fulton County State Court found two of Ben Oh’s doctors, Amy Wyrzykowski and Barry Jeffries, had caused his death in 2018 by deviating from the standard of care.
Wyrzykowski and her employer, Wellstar Medical Group, are 67.5% to blame, the jury decided. Jeffries and his employer, Diagnostic Imaging Specialists, were apportioned the remaining fault.
Lawyers for those defendants and the plaintiffs did not comment Wednesday on the verdict.
Two other Atlanta doctors involved in Oh’s treatment were let off the hook, according to the verdict form.
The trial caps six years of litigation since the Ohs filed their lawsuit in April 2020.
Ben Oh died July 21, 2018, from septic shock and organ failure because of a prolonged and mismanaged leak of lymphatic fluid after an operation, his family alleged. He was 76, according to case records.
Filings show that almost three months earlier, Oh was admitted to Wellstar’s Atlanta Medical Center after he fell from a ladder while working in his yard and fractured a bone in his back.
The Ohs alleged liability against various doctors who treated Ben Oh between his fall on April 30, 2018, and his death. They said none of the doctors took ownership of his deteriorating condition or meaningfully communicated with each other to resolve it, leading to his “prolonged, agonizing decline.”
“He was aware of his suffering, expressed despair in written notes to his family who was by his side every day, and gradually wasted away due to extreme nutrient and fluid loss,” the plaintiffs said in a pretrial filing.
Each of the defendants denied wrongdoing, arguing that they provided reasonable care in the circumstances.
Wyrzykowski, a Wellstar physician leading Ben Oh’s treatment after he had spine surgery on May 4, 2018, failed to coordinate care among specialists, did not personally review critical imaging and dismissed the significance of the fluid leak, the plaintiffs alleged.
They said Jeffries, part of the postoperative team, botched the placement of a catheter and also failed to adequately investigate the fluid leak, which totaled 87 liters, about 23 gallons, over 11 days.
Both Wyrzykowski and Jeffries said in case filings that they followed the standard of care in treating Oh and did not cause his death.
At trial, the jurors cleared two other doctors, Khalid Iqbal and Thomas Schoborg, and their practices of any wrongdoing.
Spencer Bomar, an attorney for Iqbal and his practice, Atlanta South Nephrology, said they are “very happy and appreciative that the jury made the right decision” regarding the claims against them.
Rolfe Martin, an attorney for Schoborg and his practice, Atlanta Urological Group, said the case was “exceptionally well tried by all involved.”
“We had an amazing jury and a delightful judge who made sure there were no errors to support an appeal, so we have finality for all the parties,” Martin said Wednesday. “My client is gratified the system worked and relieved the case is finally over after the verdict in his favor.”
In a pretrial filing, Schoborg said Oh’s fluid leak was “an incredibly rare condition” and that “any alleged delay in the diagnosis was not malpractice but was the result of the complexity of the circumstances and the rarity of the condition.”
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