A Summit County judge has ruled that the Catholic Health Initiatives Colorado owes about $4.2 million to a patient who suffered permanent injuries after being treated by an anesthesiologist at St. Anthony Summit Hospital in 2019, according to court documents.

The civil case filed in Summit County court in 2021 concluded late last year following a two-part jury trial, documents state. Judge Karen Romeo ruled in an order issued after the jury trial that the jury’s award could exceed the $1 million cap on tort damages outlined in the Health Care Availability Act.

The Colorado legislature passed the Health Care Availability Act to “contain the significantly increasing costs of malpractice insurance for medical care institutions and licensed medical care professionals,” Romeo wrote. But the law contains an exception allowing economic damages in excess of $1 million when a court finds that amount would be “unfair,” according to the judge’s order.

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“Evidence presented at trial showed that Plaintiff suffered a devastating nerve injury that significantly reduces her quality of life,” Romeo wrote in the order. “Plaintiff’s nerve injury will never heal; it causes her constant pain, prevents her from sleeping, limits her mobility, and impacts her ability to work.”

The local woman injured by the medical procedure had previously lived an active lifestyle but can no longer ski, run or hike, Romeo said. Because the woman can no longer participate in those activities, she has experienced bouts of depression, anxiety and panic attacks, the judge said.

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During the first part of the trial, a jury found that Dr. Steven Benecke was medically negligent and his negligence resulted in the local woman’s injuries, court documents state. Then, in the second part of the trial, the jury found that St. Anthony Summit Hospital was negligent for credentialing and privileging Benecke, according to court documents.

The woman sought medical care at St. Anthony Summit Hospital in 2019 after tearing the lateral meniscus in her right knee in 2019, court documents state. A doctor completed surgery on her knee with no issues, but after the surgery Benecke performed a nerve block causing permanent nerve injury, according to the court documents. The woman and Benecke reportedly reached a separate settlement in 2023.

According to documentation filed with the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies and filed in the court case, Benecke had “permanent practice restrictions” limiting him from performing interventional pain management including nerve blocks since 2012. 

The document instituting the “permanent practice restrictions” states that his treatments resulted in four patients sustaining permanent injuries between 2007 and 2008. But St. Anthony Summit Hospital re-credentialed him to continue work as an anesthesiologist even after those restrictions were imposed, according to court documents.

Benecke’s medical license to practice in Colorado expired in 2023, according to the Department of Regulatory Agencies.

Benecke said in a statement emailed to Summit Daily News that his “complication rates” for procedures he performed between about 1991 and 2022 “were within statistical norms for anesthesiologists practicing in the respective areas during the same time periods.”

The economic damages the jury awarded in the case included about $2.2 million for lost earnings, $1.4 million for medical expenses and about $475,000 for lost wages, court documents state. The jury also awarded $886,000 in non-economic damages such as pain and suffering, emotional stress, but Romeo reduced that to the $300,000 maximum allowed under Colorado law, according to court documents.

A spokesperson for St. Anthony Summit Hospital did not return multiple requests for comment.

This story is from SummitDaily.com