Hughes

BACKGROUND

On November 2, 2003, Trent Hughes suffered a spinal cord injury while operating

an off-road vehicle in the desert. He experienced immediate severe pain in his back and

realized he was unable to move his feet, which felt numb and “tingly.” He was taken by

helicopter to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs.

Dr. Pham was the neurosurgeon on call. He was summoned to the emergency

department upon Hughes’ arrival. Hospital rules provided that Pham was required to

respond within 20 minutes of being summoned. Although Pham insisted that he did

respond promptly and that he did perform a comprehensive examination and evaluation

of Hughes’ condition, other evidence showed that this was not true. He did order an

MRI, which showed that Hughes had a burst fracture of the first vertebra in his lumbar

spine (L1) and compression fractures in the thoracic spine. Pham interpreted the MRI as

showing 70 percent transection of the thoracic spine and concluded that prompt surgery

to decompress and stabilize the spine at L1 was not necessary because the thoracic injury

would render Hughes a paraplegic in any event. Pham did not operate until November…