On Jan. 14, 2009, plaintiff John Allen, 88, presented to Dr. Barton Wachs, a urologist, with complaints of active bleeding through his urinary tract and blocked urine flow for three or four days. Wachs scheduled Allen for surgery, consisting of a transurethral resection of the prostate and inspection of the bladder to remove a blood clot. Wachs performed the surgery at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center on Jan. 16, 2009. John Allen and his wife, Lois Allen, claimed that the administration of general anesthesia during the surgery caused a small stroke that resulted in Mr. Allen later being diagnosed with dementia. Lois Allen, acting individually and as conservator to her husband, sued Wachs, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, and Dr. Michael Alexander, the anesthesiologist that performed on the subject surgery. Mrs. Allen alleged that the defendants negligently administered anesthesia and that their negligence constituted medical malpractice. Wachs ultimately settled with the plaintiffs for a confidential sum a few years prior to trial. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that Alexander should not have administered general anesthesia, which allegedly caused Mr. Allen to suffer a small stroke, and, instead, should have administered anesthesia regionally or through an epidural. Counsel also contended that the hospital should have had policies and procedures in effect to require a pre-operative history and physical by an internal medicine specialist. During trial, Alexander was dismissed from the case through a waiver of costs. Long Beach Memorial Medical Center claimed that the subject surgery was uneventful, in that Mr. Allen exhibited stable blood pressure and oxygen saturation during surgery, and did not suffer a stroke. It also claimed there were no records or scans to show a stroke occurred post-surgery. Long Beach Memorial’s medical experts testified that the standard of care did not require policies and procedures to have an internal medicine specialist obtain a pre-operative history and physical from the patient. They also testified that the surgeon, Wachs, sufficiently performed Mr. Allen’s history and physical, and that Alexander sufficiently performed the pre-anesthesia examination of Mr. Allen. In addition, counsel for the Long Beach Memorial argued that any requirement to order a pre-operative examination or consultation by an internal medicine specialist is a duty of the patient’s physician. Counsel contended that the hospital couldn’t order a pre-operative exam or consultation, since that would involve the practice of medicine, and the hospital is not licensed to practice medicine., The plaintiffs claimed that Mr. Allen suffered a stroke, causing him to develop dementia. Mrs. Allen claimed that her husband was functioning well enough prior to the subject surgery to be actively engaged in the family’s insurance company. However, she claimed after the procedure, Mr. Allen developed dementia and now requires 24-hour care from multiple caregivers. Thus, plaintiffs’ counsel asked the jury to award $250,000 in damages for Mr. Allen’s past and future pain and suffering. Counsel also asked the jury to award Mrs. Allen $250,000 for her loss of consortium. Counsel for Long Beach Memorial argued that Mr. Allen had a three-year decline in mental function preceding his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, which was made a week after the surgery by Mr. Allen’s treating neurologist, Dr. Thomas Di Julio. Counsel called Di Julio to testify at trial, and the neurologist claimed that Mrs. Allen informed him about Mr. Allen’s three-year decline in mental function. Thus, counsel for for Long Beach Memorial argued that Mr. Allen’s short-term confusion after the surgery was similar to what many elderly people experience after undergoing surgery. Counsel further argued that once the patient stabilized, the continuing course of Mr. Allen’s underlying dementia resulted from his underlying Alzheimer’s disease, which was totally unrelated to the surgery.