A former Terre Haute police officer was the center of a Medical Malpractice case that resulted in a $2.5 million dollar judgment. The Vigo County jury made that decision last week after six hours of deliberation. Jeffrey Davis claims his doctor didn’t diagnose his colon cancer in 2004 and was thus, guilty of medical malpractice in Indiana.

As reported by www.Tribstar.com in the article, “Vigo Jury Awards $2.5M in Medical Malpractice Case,” Davis sued Dr. John Morse from Terre Haute claiming the doctor should have performed certain tests to diagnose his cancer but failed to do so. Davis said when he was 35 years old, he went to the doctor complaining of rectal bleeding, nausea, vomiting after eating, and diarrhea. Dr. Morse did not perform a sigmoidoscopy or a colonoscopy which Davis claimed would have identified his cancer. Instead, Morse ordered an upper G.I. test. That resulted in explaining some of Davis’s problems but not the rectal bleeding. Two years later, Davis went to another doctor in Arizona who ordered the necessary tests and discovered the former Indiana resident had stage 4 incurable colon cancer. At the age of 42, he was given one year to live.

The Vigo County jury awarded the former Terre Haute police officer a $2.5 million dollar verdict. However, because Indiana has a $1.25 million cap on medical malpractice, the judgment will be cut to that maximum of $1.25 million.

Indiana is a leader in the field of Medical Malpractice and Medical Negligence. In fact, as noted by the Indiana State Medical Association, in 1975, Indiana became the first state to instill Medical Malpractice reform. The law contains several aspects that have kept it in place for decades including a medical review panel and a Patient’s Compensation Fund.