Walters v. Hitchcock

During thyroid surgery, Dr. Hitchcock (defendant) accidentally cut into Walters's (plaintiff) esophagus, which was discovered too late to repair and had to be permanently closed, leaving her needing manual manipulation to force food down for the rest of her life expectancy of nearly 42 years; a jury awarded her $2 million after her counsel made closing remarks including a rhetorical question about who would sell their esophagus for $4 million and his own opinion that he would not sell his. Hitchcock appealed both the closing argument and the size of the verdict.