The widow of a 73-year-old South Carolina man who died when a doctor mistakenly gave him the wrong drug following a 2002 surgery has been awarded a $1.775 million personal injury settlement.

After undergoing bypass surgery at Piedmont Medical Center on October 30, 2002, Mary Cogan’s husband Herbert experienced problems and needed a second surgery. Cogan’s wrongful death lawsuit said that before the second surgery, Dr. Suzanne Lupo retrieved two IV bags but only checked one of the labels. While both bags were supposed to be Hespan, a blood expander that keeps a patient’s blood pressure up, one of them turned out to be Lidocaine, which deadens nerves so patients don’t feel pain. The lawsuit said that Lupo then told nurse Adam Darden to administer the drug and claimed that he also did not check the label.

Upon being given the Lidocaine, Herbert Cogan’s blood pressure dropped, and the Rock Hill resident died in a few minutes. According to depositions, Lupo and surgeon Dr. Steven Chapman said they tried to revive Cogan for 20 minutes. They then told the family that Cogan’s blood pressure dropped really low, and that they could not get it back up. The wrongful death lawsuit claimed that Chapman didn’t tell the family about the medication errors until January 2003, some two months after Herbert’s November death.

In addition to the aforementioned doctors, Mary Cogan’s lawsuit named Piedmont’s parent company Tenet Healthcare, Amisub of South Carolina and Anesthesia Associates of Rock Hill. Piedmont Medical Center will pay $1.275 million of the personal injury settlement while The Medical Protective Co., an insurance company on behalf of the previously mentioned doctors, will pay $500,000. Half of the settlement minus fees and expenses will go to Mary Cogan while the remainder will be divided equally among the couple’s children.