A Roanoke jury has awarded a $3.5 million verdict to a Clifton Forge woman who sued her podiatrist over a 2003 surgery that she says caused incurable chronic pain and the amputation of the front of her right foot.
 
Donita R. Franklin likely won't receive that full sum, as Virginia has a cap on medical malpractice awards of $1.6 millon. Her attorneys said her medical bills and lost wages totaled $2.5 million.
 
Paul Kuhnel, attorney for Dr. Jennifer Feeny of Shenandoah Valley Podiatry in Troutville, said his client hasn't decided yet whether to appeal the verdict, which came down Friday evening after a four-day trial. He said Feeny's defense argued that she performed the bunion surgery correctly, and that Franklin's chronic pain was a rare but unpreventable complication.
 
Patrick Fennell, Franklin's attorney, said Feeny made a number of mistakes and failed to notify her client as to how serious the procedure, which involves shaving and cutting into bone, would be.