In January 2017, Nepalese immigrant Anuj Thapa was playing in an indoor soccer game at St. Cloud State University when another player tackled him. His left leg badly injured, Thapa was taken by ambulance to CentraCare’s St. Cloud Hospital…medscape.com, A Doctor’s Missed Diagnosis Results in Mega Award, Wayne J. Guglielmo, MA, June 2022
He was operated upon by Chad Holien, MD, an orthopedic surgeon. But Thapa experienced post-surgical complications — severe pain, numbness, burning, and muscle issues. Despite the complications, he was discharged from the hospital that afternoon and sent home.
Over time, Thapa underwent more than 20 surgeries on his leg to deal with the ongoing pain In 2019, he filed a medical malpractice suit in US district court against St. Cloud Orthopedics, the private practice that employed the surgeon and the PA.
After a weeklong trial, it awarded the plaintiff $100 million for future “pain, disability, disfigurement, embarrassment, and emotional distress.” It also gave him $10 million for past suffering and a little more than $1 million for past and future medical bills.