$7 million medical malpractice lawsuit leads to disciplinary hearing
A medical malpractice lawsuit was settled for $7 million last year on behalf of a patient whose doctors negligently failed to prevent a fire from igniting in his throat. Otolarynologist Dr. Joost Knops and anesthesiologist Dr. Kenneth Kloehn failed to take necessary precautions to prevent the fire, which ignited when a laser used to remove vocal cord lesions interacted with an oxygen leak from a medical device. The doctors failed to replace the device allowing the flammable cotton in the the patient's throat to catch fire. As a result, the patient is permanently unable to speak above a whisper. The doctors have been called before a state medical board to respond to allegations of unprofessional conduct.
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