On May 29, 2012, plaintiff Christine Auble, 53, a nursing instructor, underwent surgery to try to address an infection and close a wound. During the procedure, the surgeons, Dr. Bryan Chang-Seok Oh and Dr. Gowriharan Thaiyananthan, removed a bone specimen and sent it to the pathology lab at Chapman Medical Center for analysis. Auble previously underwent a lumbar surgery at Chapman Medical Center, in Orange, to try and resolve the chronic pain in her left leg on April 2, 2012. However, she suffered a post-operative wound infection and underwent subsequent surgeries to try to address the infection and close the wound on May 1, 2012 and May 29, 2012. During the last of the procedures, Oh and Thaiyananthan, removed a bone specimen and sent it to the pathology lab for analysis. The pathology revealed that Auble had acute osteomyelitis, a very serious bone infection. Chapman Medical Center’s policies and procedures required that pathology reports be faxed to the treating surgeons within three days. However, Auble’s report was never faxed, and the surgeons and treating infectious disease specialists never learned of the bone infection. As a result, Auble was taken off of IV antibiotics three weeks after the final surgery, but her infection had not fully been cured and her infection recurred. Auble subsequently suffered significant damage and from the progression of the infection in her lower back, resulting in the need for emergency surgery at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center, in Laguna Hills, in September 2012. Auble sued Chapman Medical Center, Oh and Thaiyananthan. Oh and Thaiyananthan were ultimately dismissed from the case pursuant to a confidential resolution prior to trial. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that Chapman Medical Center was negligent for failing to comply with its own policies and procedures and that as a result of this negligence, Auble’s treating surgeons and infectious disease specialists were deprived of the critical information that Auble had an infection in her bone. Counsel argued that if the treating doctors had that information, Auble’s antibiotic dosage would have doubled, the duration would have been extended at least an additional three weeks, and the infection would have been cured. Thus, plaintiff’s counsel argued that the September 2012 surgery at Saddleback Memorial was completely avoidable, as was the permanent damage that was caused by the relapse of the infection and the surgery. Chapman Medical Center claimed that it was not negligent because its policies and procedures did not set the standard of care. Defense counsel noted that the non-party infectious disease physician to whom Auble was referred by the surgeons on May 1, 2012 testified that he presumed a diagnosis of osteomyelitis due to the location of the surgery and that the type of antibiotics and the length of treatment were sufficient for this presumed diagnosis. The physician further testified that the pathology report merely confirmed his presumed diagnosis and that if he had the report while treating Auble, he would not have changed the treatment because on June 20, 2012, the day he discontinued antibiotics, Auble’s clinical picture, labs and MRI showed no continuing signs of infection. Thus, he testified the risks of prolonged antibiotic therapy outweighed any benefits. Chapman Medical Center conceded that it could not prove that the pathology report was forwarded to the surgeons. However, its counsel asserted that because the infection was in an area of the spine where blood flow is very limited, the antibiotics that were given did not totally eradicate the bacteria and, therefore, the bacteria festered and resulted in a relapse of the infection. The defense’s infectious disease expert testified that relapse does occur in the absence of negligence. He also opined that Auble’s were not related to the September 2012 surgery. Plaintiff’s counsel noted that the hospital’s retained pathology expert, who did not testify at trial, admitted during his expert deposition that the hospital had breached the standard of care. However, defense counsel noted that the jury never heard the expert’s opinion that Chapman’s Pathology Department policies set the standard of care., Auble suffered a severe recurrence of her infection, and required an emergency surgery at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in September 2012. During this surgery, abscesses and infection were removed throughout the soft tissues and muscles of her lower back, from parts of two levels of the bones of her spine and from around her spinal cord. Since the September 2012 surgery, Auble has experienced severe exacerbation of her leg pain as well as new debilitating axial back pain and muscle spasms. Auble claimed she is unable to walk more than 50 to 100 feet without having to rest, she cannot lift any significant amount of weight, and she uses a four-wheeled walker to ambulate. Auble also claimed that she is unable to do anything other than sedentary activities and that she experiences crippling pain if she is upright for more than three to four hours at a time. Although she initially tried to go back to work, Auble was placed on permanent disability leave in the fall of 2014. She alleged that there are no surgical treatment options for her due to the extent of injury to her lower back and that as a result, she will suffer chronic debilitating pain for the rest of her life. She also alleged that she will need chronic physical therapy and pain management for the rest of her life. Auble claimed that as a result of this permanent disability, she lost her job and will be unable to return to full-time work in the future. Defense counsel argued that Auble’s were not related to the need for her to undergo the September 2012 surgery.