Published: April 14, 1996
Section: NEWS
Page#: 02B

Woman awarded $2.8 million in medical malpractice case

By Heron Marquez Estrada; Staff Writer   

A 31-year-old Eden Prairie woman was awarded $2.8 million Friday by a Hennepin County District Court jury in a malpractice case she brought against a doctor who she said was negligent in treating her for an operation in 1992, her attorney said.

Almost $2 million of the award presented to Kathleen J. Backlund was for pain, disability, disfigurement, embarrassment and emotional distress. The remainder was for past and future medical expenses and lost earnings.



The decision was reached in a case that Backlund brought against Dr. Norman Solberg, an obstetrician at Park Nicollet clinic in St. Louis Park.



Backlund contended that she suffered a severe infection and underwent two colostomies after her colon was perforated while the doctor was cauterizing endometriosis, a growth of tissue in abnormal places, using a laparoscope that was inserted surgically into her abdomen in September 1992, said attorney Paul Sortland of Minneapolis.



Solberg maintained that he didn't violate any care standard.