YORK COUNTY, Pa. — A York County man has received a record $23.87 million verdict in a medical malpractice case, after lawyers said he suffered "catastrophic" injuries during a "botched" spinal surgery.
James Spangler, 58, of Manchester, was awarded the largest published medical malpractice award in York County's history — tripling the previous high and is one of only a handful ever reached in favor of plaintiffs in the county.
In October 2019, Spangler underwent a laminoplasty at WellSpan York Hospital to relieve spinal stenosis, lawyers explained via a press release.
During the procedure, neurosurgeon Dr. Joseph Krzeminski mistakenly inserted a screw into Spangler’s spinal cord, the law firm explained. Despite alarms from the intraoperative monitoring system warning of the critical error, Krzeminski continued with the surgery and closed the incision.
Lawyers say that Mr. Spangler awoke from the surgery unable to move, yet over 10 hours passed before he was taken for an MRI, and another 12 hours passed before he was taken back to surgery.
After initially being paralyzed from the surgery, Spangler has undergone years of intensive physical therapy, and has been able to regain some mobility. However, his representation says that he continues to suffer from permanent and life-altering disabilities and has been left barely able to walk.
Before he was injured, Spangler worked as a mechanic for Harley Davidson for 26 years.
The verdict was secured by Iddo Harel, a partner at Philadelphia-based law firm Ross Feller Casey, on Thursday.
Defendants in the case included WellSpan York Hospital and Krzeminski, who retired soon after this incident, lawyers said.
The eight-day trial before Judge Matthew Menges concluded with the jury reaching its unanimous verdict in an hour.
“The notion that midstate juries won’t award substantial damages in medical malpractice cases is just wrong. Jurors across Pennsylvania will respond if the case is legitimate and is presented to them in the right way,” Harel said, via a press release. “The case was as much about credibility as it was about neurosurgery, and the jury had little trouble understanding that defendants were trying to pull the wool over their eyes.”
"Judge Menges oversaw the trial in a truly impartial and expert manner, strictly holding the plaintiffs to their burden of proof while providing the defendants with a full and fair opportunity to explain themselves to the jury. But at the end of the day, the truth was on the side of the Spanglers — to the point that even the defendants' own experts eventually sided with plaintiffs at trial."
WellSpan Health provided the following comment on the verdict:
We are disappointed in the verdict given the evidence that was presented. Options for appeal are being reviewed and therefore we will not comment further on active litigation. WellSpan Health remains fully committed to providing safe, high-quality care for all of our patients.