Richland County jury finds Prisma Health negligent in medical malpractice case

A Richland County jury has found Prisma Health Richland Hospital liable for negligence in a medical malpractice lawsuit and awarded $315,000 in a case involving a prominent elderly patient who suffered a fall at the hospital.

The jury was out three and a half hours before rendering a verdict in the case. Since the hospital is a charitable entity, the award against it was capped at $300,000 under state law.

The patient harmed by Prisma was the late Jack Mills, of Columbia, a former successful businessman and winner of the Order of the Palmetto, who was admitted to Prisma on April 25, 2022, for confusion and shortness of breath, according to a complaint in the case.

While at the hospital, Mills fell and broke his hip, the complaint said. He then had to have surgery.

The hospital should have been monitoring Mills better and failed to do so, the complaint said.

In a response to the complaint, the hospital filed an answer denying all allegations.

The jury found that the hospital was negligent and that the negligence caused Mills’ injuries.

However, the jury also found that the negligence did not contribute to Mills’ death, which happened in June 2024, a little more than two years after his fall.

The hospital has not responded to a request for comment from The State newspaper.

Mills was 88 when he died, and his obituary described him as a “self-made man” with a strong work ethic who became a success in the cable contracting business. He learned how to fly and flew all over the Southeast installing phone and television cable, according to his obituary.

Mills also made contributions to the world of tennis on the state and national level, was an avid NASCAR fan, loved to read and worked for the renovation of the Township Auditorium in downtown Columbia among other civic activities, his obituary said.

During the four-day trial, the plaintiffs put up experts in fall prevention and hip surgery.

Lawyers for Mills’ estate in the case were a husband-wife team from Charleston: Joshua and Eliza Cantwell.

Defense lawyers in the case included Brittany Bihun, Allan Belcher and Allison E. Malone, all of the Charleston area.

State Judge Milton Kimpson presided.