Jury Awards $6.9 Million to Boy, 11

A jury has awarded nearly $7 million to a former Oxnard boy after finding a surgeon who operated on him five years ago was responsible for injuries that left the youth paralyzed, attorneys in the case said Thursday.

The verdict, handed down Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, culminates a 2-year-old lawsuit and brings to an end a tragic chapter in the life of 11-year-old Daniel L. Frasier Jr.

Born with a hereditary condition, the boy underwent surgery in 1995 at Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles to correct a chest deformity. But the surgery left him paralyzed from the waist down and complications caused him brain damage as well.

He is not expected to recover and spends his days in a wheelchair. He recently moved to Concord with his mother, and dreams of riding horses and bicycles, said Brenda Andrade, the Ventura attorney who represented the boy.

“He walked in to the hospital an active, sweet, young boy and walked out a paraplegic, never to walk again,” Andrade said.

After consulting attorneys, his parents filed suit in 1998 against the hospital and physicians who performed the operation.

Although the hospital settled with the boy’s attorneys for about $1 million and other parties were eventually dropped from the lawsuit, the case proceeded against supervising pediatric surgeon Dr. Bruce Hanson, who practices in the San Fernando Valley and works at the hospital.

During the trial, attorneys for the boy argued that Hanson was negligent for failing to catch and correct errors that occurred during the surgery by a trio of physicians. The injuries the boy sustained include a ruptured aorta, brain damage, loss of bladder control and memory loss.

But Marshall Silberberg, an Irvine attorney who represented Hanson, said his client was selected as the fall guy. Other physicians made the errors, he said, and Hanson was held responsible as their supervisor.

“It’s a tragic situation. This little boy was badly hurt,” Silberberg said. “But my client didn’t do anything wrong. He’s the scapegoat and he’s being held liable for the negligence” of others.

Nonetheless, the jury, by a 10-2 vote, Wednesday concluded that Hanson acted negligently and should pay damages to help the boy, the attorneys said. Specifically, the jury decided that the boy is entitled to $6.9 million, the present-day value for long-term care for his injuries.

The defendant also has the option of paying $59.2 million, the amount the jury believes will be needed to provide care for the boy over a lifetime, although Silberberg called that amount “funny money” and said his client would not pay that amount. He added that he plans to ask the judge for a reduction in the award, and an appeal is expected.

Attorneys for Frasier acknowledge that at least a small portion of the jury award may be pared.

“We’re thrilled about the results,” Andrade said. “It means this little paraplegic boy will get the equipment and operations he needs to make his life as pleasant as possible.”