Five years and $60,000 later, the case of the 4-year-old girl whose face caught fire during surgery to remove a suspicious-looking mole from her right cheek is over. The girl, who suffered burns to her face and eye in the May 2005 surgical fire, settled with her surgeon, anesthesiologist and the Ventura, Calif., hospital where the surgery was performed for $60,000, according to court records.
The flash fire, while short in duration, burned the girl's cornea, eyelid, and face and also burnt off her eyelashes and eyebrows, according to court records. After the 8-day trial, the jury deliberated for 3 days and awarded the girl a $164,874 judgment. The jury found anesthesiologist Robert D. Watson, MD, 5% at fault, plastic surgeon Samuel A. Bern, MD, 80% at fault and Community Memorial Hospital hospital 15% at fault. The plaintiff settled with defendants for $60,000 in May 2009.
The girl was under general anesthesia during surgery. The plaintiff's experts claimed that the fire started because the OR team failed to comply with the hospital's policies and procedures to prevent an operating room fire. Efforts to reach the hospital for comment were unsuccessful.
Dan O'Connor
