Jury rules in favor of doctor who cut off part of Kentucky man’s penis

Courier-Journal, August 25, 2011

Jurors rejected a truck driver's claim for $16 million in damages after part of his penis was amputated because they believed the doctor saved the man's life, the jury forewoman said. After only about an hour of deliberation, the six-man, six-woman jury in Shelby County Circuit Court found that John Patterson, MD, acted appropriately and Phillip Seaton, 64, of Waddy, should get no money in the lawsuit. "We felt bad for the circumstances. (Seaton) has our sympathy. But at the same time, he's alive today because this man did what he did, because this man performed the surgery," jury forewoman Lydia Tapp told The Courier-Journal in a phone interview. The jury ruled unanimously against the claim that Patterson had failed to exercise proper care. It ruled 10-2 against the claim that Seaton hadn't consented to the amputation. Jurors were told that Seaton had gone to Patterson seeking a circumcision in October 2007, but the Frankfort doctor decided to amputate part of the penis after he found potentially deadly cancer during surgery.