The family of a Vermont woman who died following complications from her treatment at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center was awarded nearly $1 million by a federal jury this week in medical malpractice and wrongful death awards.

The jury awarded $598,000 to the estate of Katherine Coffey and $385,000 to her surviving husband.

According to court documents, Coffey was admitted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center to treat fluid in her lungs shortly after she had received open heart surgery in 2005. While she was there, an IV line placed in her hand leaked medication into the tissue of her hand. The resulting reaction required her to undergo surgery to amputate several fingers.

A few weeks after the amputations, Coffey, 79, died from an infection with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a drug-resistant type of bacteria often acquired inside of hospitals.

Lawyers for both the family and the hospital said they could not comment on the case. Heather Burns, an attorney for the family, said family members also did not wish to comment. Tom Laprade, a lawyer for Dartmouth-Hitchcock, said the hospital does not plan to appeal the judgment.

In court documents, the family alleged several instances of medical negligence. They said that medical staff had inserted the wrong sort of line into Coffey's hand, had used an intravenous drug to control her blood sugar instead of a less invasive treatment, failed to appropriately recognize and treat irritation caused by leaked medication and caused a bacterial infection that resulted in Coffey's death.

"As a proximate cause of these violations of the standard of care, Mrs. Coffey suffered a horrible, painful death, endured conscious pain and suffering, the probable duration of her life was greatly shortened and her estate incurred expenses and other damages," the complaint reads.

Coffey's lawyers also argued that Coffey's husband, Francis Coffey, suffered distress and health complications as the result of his wife's injuries and death.

Lawyers for the hospital argued in court documents that Coffey's lawyers had failed to prove that negligence caused the injury to Coffey's hand, and argued that the risks of withholding the offending medication could have been life threatening. They also disputed the plaintiff's allegation that the antibiotic-resistant infection started in Coffey's hand.

Medical experts interviewed in depositions said that complications from the type of medication that injured Coffey's hand was rare. A doctor who examined Coffey after her death said that her hand did not appear to be infected.

"If death from a rare presentation of a MRSA infection is a foreseeable risk of any medical procedure or decision, then hospitals across the state will be open to liability for every single treatment decision they make if ultimately the patient develops a MRSA infection," one defense motion argues.

After a trial, the jury found for Coffey's family. In a jury form signed Wednesday, it found that the hospital had been negligent, and the group selected the cash awards for the estate and Francis Coffey.