Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in Washington

Re: A $1.00 award

The reason the jury awarded only a dollar is in the very language you quote: "...but that the negligence did not cause her disabilities."

The jury evidently found that the defendants, or some of them, were negligent. That only refers to THEIR CONDUCT. The rest of the analysis requires that their conduct was also the CAUSE (or sometimes one cause) of the plaintiff's injuries, or other damages.

There are often bad outcomes in medicine. It's not a perfect science, and doctors cannot of course cure everyone. Bad outcomes of medical care are not necessarily the fault of anyone, but can merely reflect the course of the disease or condition. Sometimes as well, even though the medical care provider was both negligent and did cause harm, the patient may have already been in such a bad state that the negligent conduct didn't materially alter the situation for the patient.

I hope that explains it better for you. You might want to look into more details of the specific case itself to get a better understanding, by either looking at the court records or talking to some of the people involved in the trial.

-- Sam