A 27-year-old Shady Side man won a $5.4 million verdict against Prince George's General Hospital in Cheverly yesterday for failing to correctly diagnose an injury to his left leg following a car accident. As a result, the leg was amputated at the hip.

A Prince George's Circuit Court jury of two men and four women returned the verdict in two-and-a-half hours against the hospital on a single count of breach of standard of care. A single count against the attending doctor was returned in his favor. The trial had lasted five days. The jury awarded Gilford B. Tyler Jr. $214,000 for past medical expenses, $206,638 for future medical expenses, $30,000 for past lost income, $506,146 for future lost income, and $4.5 million for non-economic damages.

Alfred Martin, an expert on vascular surgery from Santa Fe, N.M., testified at the trial that "there was a 96 percent chance the leg would have been saved if the hospital had treated it properly," said Kevin J. McCarthy, Tyler's attorney. Tyler, an airplane wiring technician, was admitted to the hopital's shock trauma unit at 2:25 a.m. on Nov. 19, 1995 with injuries to his pelvis and left leg.

"The staff assumed a nerve injury to the leg, but it turned out to be at least vascular and nerve injury," McCarthy said. "By 6:30 a.m. the staff found the leg was cold, but didn't report it to the treating doctor. By 7 a.m., the pulse in the leg was faint, McCarthy said, and by 9 a.m. there was no pulse in the leg - but they still didn't report it to the doctor."

When Dr. Bijon Bahmanyar, the treating doctor, arrived at 10:30 a.m., he ordered immediate tests - which revealed a blood clot - and ordered that a vascular surgeon be called. But the surgeon wasn't called until after 1:30 p.m., McCarthy said. Tyler went into surgery at 2:40 p.m. to remove the blood clot.

"But it was too late," McCarthy said. "The tissue had died. You only have four to six hours to operate and relieve a blood clot. The operation took place seven hours after they became aware of no pulse at the very earliest." Bahmanyar, the treating doctor, was found not at fault by the jury. "The hospital knew it was an emergency and didn't respond appropriately," McCarthy said. "There are standards they are supposed to meet, but didn't."

Gregory Wells, the attorney for Prince George's General Hospital, did not return a phone call for comment. McCarthy noted that Maryland's cap on noneconomic damages is about $515,000. "If the verdict is cut, we'll appeal that issue immediately," he said.

"For a young man who lost his leg, it's not an unreasonable award," said Robert R. Michael, a past president of the American Trial Lawyers Association. "What's unreasonable is the half-million that he'll get after the cap is applied. That to me is the real tragedy. For the jury to hear the case, award $4.5 million and have it reduced, is just outrageous."

Peter M. Rubin, a Baltimore medical malpractice attorney, said he hopes McCarthy fights the cap "zealously." "It's a perfect illustration of why the cap is so unfair," Rubin said. "The majority of the award will be reduced and he'll go through his life having to suffer from that devestating injury."