Jury awards Twin Falls couple $3.85 million in St. Luke's lawsuit

TWIN FALLS — A jury awarded a Twin Falls couple nearly $4 million in damages after deciding a nurse at St. Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center acted recklessly when she improperly removed a catheter from a woman’s neck, causing her to have a stroke and permanent brain damage.

According to the original civil complaint filed last February, Joyce Herrett was a patient at the hospital on Christmas Eve in 2013 when a nurse, Marilou Wentz, “improperly removed a central venous catheter line which caused Mrs. Herrett to suffer an air embolism and stroke.”

“The nurse’s actions were in direct contravention of reasonably safe practices, violated the applicable standard of care and showed reckless disregard for the consequences,” the Herrett’s lawsuit read.

Joyce Herrett was supposed to leave the hospital that Christmas Eve and spend the holidays with family. Instead, the stroke kept her at St. Luke’s for more than two months, until Feb. 28, during which time she had to re-learn basic skills like walking and talking.

Read more: http://magicvalley.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/what-s-a-brain-injury-worth-jury-awards-twin-falls/article_bf63fda7-2136-5298-89aa-fa18b9bd5097.html