Jury: Eugene hospital must pay $1.5M in student’s death

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) – A jury has ruled that a hospital in Eugene must pay $1.5 million to a Georgia woman for providing negligent medical care to her daughter, a University of Oregon athlete who died of meningococcal disease during a campus outbreak in early 2015.
 
The Register-Guard reports (https://goo.gl/snEAaw ) the Lane County jury reached the verdict Friday after a three-week trial.
 
Dorian Sanders last year filed a wrongful death lawsuit against PeaceHealth, which operates the hospital. She had sought $2 million in damages.
 
Her daughter, university acrobatics and tumbling team member Lauren Jones, was one of seven people who came down with meningococcal disease during the outbreak.
 
The doctor at the hospital near campus diagnosed Jones with a flu-like illness on Feb. 17, 2015. Jones, 18, died later that day after being found unconscious in her dorm room.
 
PeaceHealth hasn’t said if it plans to appeal.