Anesthesiologist Pays $500K for Insulting Sedated Patient

An anesthesiologist is paying dearly for rude remarks made about a sedated patient during a colonoscopy. The patient had pressed record on his cell phone to save post-procedure instructions and inadvertently recorded the barrage of insults by the doctor and other attending medical personnel.

The audio recording, which was entered into evidence in a case against the anesthesiologist and her practice, caught the doctor saying, “After five minutes of talking to you in pre-op, I wanted to punch you in the face and man you up a little bit.”

The doctor went on to joke that a rash on the patient was syphilis and even made a notation on his medical chart indicating he had hemorrhoids even though he did not. After hearing the audio recording, a jury ordered the doctor to pay a total of $450,000 for defamation, malpractice and punitive damages. Her practice was ordered to pay $50,000 for punitive damages.

To learn more and hear excerpts from the recording, you can watch a news report here.