A California jury awarded $4.5 million last week to the family of a Tulare County man who died due to medical malpractice. Judy Staley and her two children filed the lawsuit against Dr. Parmod Kumar in connection with Stan Staley's death. According to the plaintiffs, on June 13, 2000, Kumar performed an unnecessary endoscopic procedure known as an ERCP on Staley before he was to have gallbladder-removal surgery.

Expert testimony from several surgeons revealed the ERCP procedure was needless and caused Staley to develop pancreatitis, which resulted in his death on August 29, 2000. Kumar was also found negligent for failing to re-hospitalize Staley after he developed the disorder. Due to state caps on medical malpractice verdicts, the award will be reduced to $1.4 million.