It took less than an hour for a jury to decide an Alabama doctor was liable for a woman’s death after she experienced extreme pain following gallbladder surgery, according to her family’s attorneys.

The jury awarded the family of Anne Davis, who was 71 when she died, $6 million on Sept. 17 following a six-day trial in Houston County, Hare Wynn law firm announced in a news release.

After Davis’ surgery in September 2017, she was discharged home and started feeling severe stomach pain, despite having taken pain medication prescribed by her surgeon who worked for Wiregrass Surgical in Dothan, according to the lawsuit filed over her death.

When her husband, Billy Davis, called Wiregrass Surgical about his wife’s symptoms, he was told that the pain was expected, according to the lawsuit.

But the pain persisted, the lawsuit says, and Billy Davis brought her to the surgical clinic, where she was seen by Dr. Bradley T. Marker, her surgeon’s partner, on Sept. 22, 2017. At the time, her surgeon was out of town, according to the lawsuit.

Marker told the couple that Anne Davis’ stomach pain was “normal” and gave her a different prescription medicine to take, the lawsuit says.

“He told dad it was fine to send my mom home, and then he pretty much dismissed him and sent him home,” Betsy Davis Swihart, Billy and Anne Davis’s daughter, told McClatchy News in an interview.

Her pain became worse at home and Billy Davis called EMS, according to the lawsuit, which says Anne Davis was then taken to an emergency room.

At the ER, Marker saw Anne Davis and found her stomach was “full of bile” at around 2:37 a.m. on Sept. 23, 2017, the lawsuit says.

Within a few hours, she died, according to the lawsuit her husband filed against Wiregrass Surgical and Marker.

Wiregrass Surgical and attorneys representing Marker didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ requests for comment Sept. 18.

“My dad would have done anything to get my mom help, and he tried to do everything he could to get her help,” Swihart said.

In the seven years since losing her mother, Swihart said her father developed dementia. He died Aug. 3.

“It’s heartbreaking to know that there are families that have gone through the same thing…and that’s why we felt like we just needed to continue this fight, even after my dad died, we did not want to give up,” Swihart said.

“We just wanted justice for my mother, and no amount of money will ever bring her back,” she added. “I don’t care if I ever see a dime of the money, it’s the principle.”

An attempt to blame the family

Attorney Leon Ashford, one of the attorneys representing the case, told McClatchy News that Marker documented in his medical notes that it was okay for Anne Davis to go home before she needed to go to the ER.

Then, he tried to change his notes when he saw her later that evening, Ashford said.

“After he comes in and sees her laying in a bed on a ventilator with sepsis, knowing she’s going to die, he goes to his dictaphone and dictates a note that says, ‘I told her this morning that she needed to go to the hospital, and she declined,’” Ashford said.

“The jury didn’t believe that,” he added.

Attorney Ashley Peinhardt, who also represented the case, told McClatchy News that Ashford got Marker to admit that he was trying to “paint a different narrative” during a cross examination.

“I think that really upset the jury, that he was blaming the family instead of taking responsibility,” Peinhardt said.

Marker should have sent Anne Davis to the ER when he said she could go home, Ashford said.

If he did, she would’ve survived, Dr. Bernard Camins, an infectious disease specialist at Mount Sinai in New York, testified at trial, according to Ashford.

‘She left some enormous shoes to fill’

Anne Davis, who lived in Headland, took care of everyone in her family, including her husband and grandchildren, Swihart said.

“My mom was like, one of those TV moms, like one of the 50s sitcom kind of moms,” she said.

She was very active and liked working outdoors, gardening and fishing. She also enjoyed sewing and quilting, Swihart said.

Swihart recalled how two weeks before her mother underwent surgery, her mother and father spent time picking up fallen tree limbs scattered in Swihart’s yard after Hurricane Irma while she was away at work.

Swihart also said “she was a great grandmother to my children and my brother and sister’s children. That was pretty much what she lived for at the time of her death.”

“She would take my children to school every morning because I had to be at work extra early, so I didn’t want to have to drag them with me,” Swihart, a special education teacher, said.

“Mom would step in a lot,” Swihart said, adding “she left some enormous shoes to fill.”

The $6 million verdict, which Marker is responsible for paying, is believed to be a record medical malpractice verdict in Houston County, Peinhardt said.

“We were just very grateful that a jury of 12 strangers was able to see what we have known all along, that Dr. Marker did not meet the standard of care,” Swihart said

She hopes the case will bring awareness.

“Make sure that you question your doctors and you stand up and demand that they meet that standard of care,” Swihart said.

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