13 WTHR IndianapolisLake County jury award cancer patient's family $13M

Lake County jury award cancer patient's family $13M

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Hammond - A northern Indiana jury has awarded $13 million to relatives of a woman who died of cancer following surgery by a doctor who was a fugitive in Europe for five years until his capture on an Italian mountainside in 2009.

The Lake County jury reached its verdict Thursday on the sixth day of Mark Weinberger's trial in a lawsuit filed by relatives of Phyllis Barnes. The 50-year-old Valparaiso woman died of laryngeal cancer three years after Weinberger performed sinus surgery on her.

The Times of Munster reports that Barnes' attorney Kenneth Allen told jurors Weinberger and an assistant failed to take discover the tumor that killed Barnes despite numerous "red flags" indicating she had a serious condition.

Jurors awarded $3 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages.

Information from: The Times

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