THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, February 6, 1996              TAG: 9602060271
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                            LENGTH: Short :   38 lines

$1 MILLION AWARD ORDERED IN TONSILLECTOMY FATALITY BUT THE DOCTOR IS IN IRAN, AND HIS INSURER IS IN RECEIVERSHIP.

A judge has awarded $1 million to the mother of a 4-year-old girl who died in 1992 after the girl's tonsils were removed. It is the maximum award possible under Virginia's medical malpractice law.

Circuit Judge Jerome James ruled Thursday that Dr. Abdol H. Dowlatshahi, a Virginia Beach ear-nose-and-throat physician, must pay the compensatory damages to the mother, Vickie Rossy, plus about $360,000 in interest from the date of the girl's death. The judge did not award punitive damages.

Rossy's attorney, Stephen C. Swain, alleged in a lawsuit that the doctor lacked proper education, training and experience to perform pediatric surgery.

The doctor had no problem removing the tonsils from Angelica V. Rossy in June 1992. She died, however, after she became nauseated and the doctor prescribed pure water for her intravenously, instead of the usual saline solution, or salt water, Swain said. ``It was inexcusable for the doctor not to know the difference between the two fluids,'' Swain said Monday.

The issue of the doctor's liability was not in question at Thursday's one-day trial, only the issue of damages. The judge had ruled in July on summary judgment that the doctor was liable for the girl's death at Humana Hospital-Bayside, now Sentara Bayside.

Despite the large verdict, collecting the damages might be a problem. Dowlatshahi has returned to his native Iran, Swain said, and the doctor's insurance company, which normally would pay the damages, is in receivership.

KEYWORDS: LAWSUIT AWARD MALPRACTICE by CNB