On April 3, 2011, plaintiff’s decedent Nicole Caruso, 40, a healthcare marketing employee, underwent laparoscopic gynecologic surgery performed by Dr. Howard Synn, an OB-GYN surgeon, at Clovis Community Medical Center in Clovis. However, during the procedure, Synn inadvertently punctured Caruso’s left internal iliac artery, which went undetected during the surgery. Caruso was later discharged that same day. The following morning, Caruso went into hypovolemic shock due to internal bleeding, was taken to an emergency room and died at approximately 5:30 a.m. Thomas Caruso, the decedent’s widower, sued Synn; the operator of Clovis Community Medical Center, Fresno Community Hospital and Medical Center; and the anesthesiologist during the subject laparoscopic gynecologic surgery, Dr. Hoa Pham. Mr. Caruso alleged that the defendants were negligent in his wife’s post-operative care and that this negligence constituted medical malpractice, making the defendants liable for his wife’s wrongful death. Mr. Caruso claimed that Synn was negligent in the decedent’s post-operative care with regard to Synn’s office failing to return his call the evening before his wife passed, when he expressed concerns about his wife’s condition. He also claimed that Pham was negligent in the post-operative care of the decedent with regard to the pain medications prescribed and with regard to his discharge of the decedent from the Post Anesthesia Care Unit to the Level Two Step-Down Unit before the decedent’s final discharge home. Mr. Caruso further claimed that the Clovis Community Medical Center’s nursing staff was negligent in their post-operative care of the decedent with regard to their administration of pain medications, and with regard to their monitoring and assessment of the decedent as being stable enough to be discharged from the hospital. Synn settled with Mr. Caruso for a confidential amount prior to trial. Both Pham and Fresno Community Hospital and Medical Center denied any deviation from the standard of care in the treatment of the decedent., Ms. Caruso went into hypovolemic shock due to internal bleeding from the punctured left internal iliac artery. As a result, she was taken to an emergency room, but ultimately died at approximately 5:30 a.m. on April 4, 2011. She was 40 years old. Thus, Mr. Caruso sought recovery of $450,000 in non-economic wrongful death damages, as well as $2,504,105 in economic damages for the loss of his wife’s income and household services. The defense’s expert economist testified that Mr. Caruso’s economic damages should be $700,000 less than he claimed, with the largest area of dispute being the consumption offset of the decedent from the total household income (defense argument) or just from her own income (plaintiff’s argument).