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Mother Awarded $600K in Malpractice Case

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (CN) - A federal jury awarded $600,000 to a mother who claimed her daughter died after a doctor at the Harrisburg Family Practice botched a surgical procedure.

Melissa Yarber filed suit against the family practice, Harrisburg Medical Center, Dr. Vinay Mehta and Dr. Roger Watters in December 2006.

She claimed that Mehta perforated the lung of her minor daughter, Jennifer DeArmon, in December 2004 while trying to implant a venous port.

Mehta and Watters performed multiple procedures to try to repair the damage and arranged transport to another hospital after DeArmon's condition worsened, Yarber claimed. She said the doctors misrepresented DeArmon's condition to the receiving hospital, making the hospital unprepared to care for her critical condition.

DeArmon died on July 31, 2005.

The jury awarded Yarber $100,000 for loss of normal life expectancy, $100,000 for pain and suffering and $400,000 for medical expenses.

Harrisburg Family Practice and Mehta were found liable for the damages.

The counts against the Harrisburg Medical Center and Watters were dismissed without prejudice.

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