A Virginia anesthesiologist has been ordered to pay $500,000 to a patient for mocking him while he was under sedation during a colonoscopy.
The patient accidentally recorded comments made by his doctor, who made fun of a rash on his genitals and called him a "retard," the
Washington Post reports.
The Vienna man had prepared for his colonoscopy by pressing “record” on his smartphone, to capture the instructions his doctor would give him after the procedure.
But he mistakenly recorded the entire procedure — something he discovered as he listened to the recording afterward.
“After five minutes of talking to you in pre-op,” the anesthesiologist told the sedated patient, “I wanted to punch you in the face and man you up a little bit.”
When a medical assistant noted the patient had a rash, the anesthesiologist warned her not to touch it, suggesting she might get “some syphilis on your arm or something,” then added, “It’s probably tuberculosis in the penis, so you’ll be all right.”
When the assistant noted that the man reported getting queasy when watching a needle placed in his arm, the anesthesiologist said, “Well, why are you looking then, retard?”
The patient sued and, after a three-day trial, a Fairfax County jury ordered the anesthesiologist and her practice to pay him $500,000.