AMITE -- A woman whose diabetic father died four years ago has won an $814,000 malpractice judgment against his physician, Amite Mayor Reggie Goldsby.

WWL-TV

Former assistant schools superintendent Marion Hendry died Nov. 28, 2003, in North Oaks Medical Center.

A Tangipahoa Parish jury awarded Tanya Hendry Sparks $175,000 for loss of her father's companionship, $100,000 for his pain and suffering, $125,000 for his mental anguish and distress, $209,628 in medical expenses and $29,451 for lost wages.

The June 22 decision came after all three physicians on a state review board had found that Goldsby gave substandard care to Hendry.

Goldsby did not immediately return a call for comment Thursday on the verdict.

Hendry was admitted to Hood Memorial Hospital in Amite on March 13, 2000 for what Goldsby diagnosed as arthritis in his right wrist and cellulitis, a dangerous skin infection. Until then, court records indicate, he was independent, lived alone, taught GED courses, drove a car, had a normal mental state and was not confused in any way.

After Sparks moved him to North Oaks in March 2002 because his blood pressure had dropped so low that his brain was damaged, doctors found that his wrist was broken. He wound up institutionalized because of the brain damage.

Sparks sued Hood Memorial as well as Goldsby in 2000, but the hospital was later dismissed from the suit.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)