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RESTON, Virginia (AP) — A Virginia man was awarded $500,000 in court after being mocked and insulted by an anesthesiologist during a colonoscopy in 2013.
The Washington Post reports the jury ordered 42-year-old Tiffany Ingham and her practice to pay the man after a three-day trial last week.
Officials say the man, who wanted to remain anonymous, recorded the incident while being prepped for the procedure so it would capture the doctor's post-operation instructions.
But when he listened to the recording later, he discovered that he had recorded the entire examination and that the doctor and the rest of the surgical team had insulted and mocked him once he fell asleep.
Ingham was recorded saying "after five minutes of talking to you in pre-op, I wanted to punch you in the face and man you up a little bit." When a medical assistant noted the man had a rash, the anesthesiologist warned her not to touch it, saying 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."
The lawsuit states the recording captured Ingham mocking the amount of anesthetic needed to sedate the man and a gastroenterologist, Soloman Shah, commented that another doctor they both knew "would eat him for lunch." Shah, who performed the colonoscopy, was dismissed from the case.
One of the jurors, Farid Khairzada, said that there was not much defense, because everything was on tape.
"We finally came to a conclusion," Khairzada said, "that we have to give him something, just to make sure that this doesn't happen again."
The newspaper reported that Ingham had worked out of the anesthesia center where she practiced. Officials there did not return a call seeking comment.
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