Man with destroyed heart gets record $40 million awarded by jury

$40.1 million was awarded by a Snohomish County Superior Court jury to a man whose heart was ruined by a malfunctioning machine during an operation at an Everett hospital.

Lawyers stated that the jury award is the largest in county history and thought to be one of the state’s largest personal injury verdicts.

54 year old Paramjit Singh’s lawyers had asked for up to $38 million in damages to as compensation for Singh, who had to undergo a heart transplant and is suffering other problems as a result of the injury. He also has to take anti-rejection drugs.

The company that manufactured the defective device, Edwards Lifesciences Corp. of Irvine, Calif., said it is willing to pay reasonable damages, but not as much as Singh’s lawyers were seeking.

Edwards also puts blame on Providence Everett Medical Center for using a damaged cable. Jurors were told that the combination of the cable and a faulty line of computer code in a monitor caused a catheter to overheat and burn Singh’s heart. Providence says Edwards should pay because the company failed to disclose the problem.

In the final decision, the jury ordered Edwards to pay 99.99 percent of the damages to Singh and his family. The jurors found Providence to be responsible for .01 percent of the damages. Edwards also was ordered to pay Providence $310,000 for breaching a contract and fraud.

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