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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Charleston city officials will pay a man $650,000 after paramedics mistakenly gave him a numbing medication that is a controlled substance.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail (http://bit.ly/1mxgYVW ) reports city council members approved the settlement Monday night.
City attorney Paul Ellis says the settlement is probably the largest paid by the city in nearly a decade.
Ellis says 69-year-old Denzil Hager fell at his home in January and fractured his hip. While in a city ambulance, paramedics intended to give him saline intravenously, but mistakenly gave him lidocaine and he became unresponsive.
Hager's attorney Brett Preston says Hager spent months in a rehabilitation facility, surviving with the use of a feeding tube.
Ellis says the city will pay $300,000 of the settlement and its insurance carrier will pay the remaining $350,000.
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Information from: The Charleston Gazette-Mail, http://wvgazettemail.com.
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