Virginia man accidentally records his colonoscopy with his phone, wins $500k

A Virginia man received a $500,000 jury award after accidentally recording medical staff insulting him during a routine colonoscopy procedure. The case has become a landmark example of how smartphone recordings can expose healthcare providers to significant legal liability.

The patient, identified only as “D.B.” in court documents, underwent the procedure in April 2013 at a medical facility in Reston, Virginia. He had started recording on his smartphone to capture post-operative care instructions from his doctor but forgot to turn off the device when he was sedated for the colonoscopy.

When D.B. listened to the recording on his way home, he discovered that anesthesiologist Dr. Tiffany Ingham and other medical staff had made deeply insulting comments about him while he was unconscious. “Really, after five minutes of talking to you in pre-op, I wanted to punch you in the face and man you up a little bit,” Ingham could be heard saying in the recording that was later entered as evidence in the lawsuit.

Legal consequences and jury decision

The three-day trial in Fairfax County revealed the extent of the unprofessional behavior captured on the recording. Dr. Ingham was heard calling the patient a “retard” and making false claims about his medical condition. When a medical assistant noticed a rash on the patient, Ingham warned her not to touch it, jokingly suggesting he might have syphilis or “tuberculosis of the penis.”

Perhaps most damaging to the medical malpractice case was Ingham’s statement about falsifying medical records. She was recorded saying she planned to mark hemorrhoids on the patient’s chart even though no such condition was found. “I’m going to mark hemorrhoids even though we don’t see them and probably won’t. I’m just going to take a shot in the dark,” she said during the procedure. This type of unprofessional conduct toward patients has been seen in other recent cases where hospital staff faced consequences for inappropriate behavior.

The jury awarded D.B. $100,000 for defamation, $200,000 for medical malpractice, and $200,000 in punitive damages. Aisthesis, the Bethesda, Maryland practice that employed Ingham, was ordered to pay $50,000 of the punitive damages. “We finally came to a conclusion that we have to give him something, just to make sure that this doesn’t happen again,” juror Farid Khairzada told The Washington Post.

Dr. Ingham no longer works at the Reston facility following the incident. Her attorney had argued unsuccessfully that the recording should be thrown out because it was made without consent, but Virginia law allows recording when at least one party consents. The case demonstrates how medical situations can create unexpected complications and consequences for healthcare professionals. The case has since been cited in medical literature as an example of how humor and unprofessional comments in healthcare settings can lead to serious legal consequences.