Lei's first surgery on the trunk, chest and abdomen was performed by Himel (as were all but one of his subsequent surgeries to date) six days after the incident. (It takes several days for a burn to run its course so that it can be classified as second - or third-degree.

Himel explained that only so much could be accomplished in the first surgery because, among other reasons, it places too much stress on the patient: More than half of Lei's blood was replaced because of skin grafting, which required the movement of 20% of his body's surface. Himel stated that the skin grafting "doubled the size of [Lei's] injury."

During the recovery period from the first surgery, Lei was treated with intravenous fluids, assisted feedings, pain medication, and dressings to the donor sites and to the unoperated wounds. Because of the high risk of infection, antibiotics were also administered intravenously. Lei underwent some physical therapy in-hospital, including having his arms pulled up and his neck moved from side to side to stretch the skin.

The second surgery, on March 17, focused on the neck, right arm. and
left hand; skin for the surgery was taken from Lei's back. A third surgery, performed
by Himel's colleague, involved the removal of Lei's right nipple and areola to
prevent infection.

After seven weeks of hospitalization, Lei was discharged on April 22, 1998. On June 19, Himel amputated a fingertip because the bone had been protruding through an open wound; Lei was hospitalized for approximately a week. There were three more surgeries-on Sept. 29, 1998, and on June 18 and July 30, 1999-making a total of seven operations.

Following his discharge, Lei returned to the Burn Center three times a week for several months. His visits were gradually brought down to once a week until Lei was given a program of home exercise that lasted for one year.

In the first year, for 23 hours a day-except to bathe-Lei wore compression garments over his burns, including a face mask, to smooth the scars out. Lei needed the assistance of his mother and sister to
replace the garments. At the time of trial, he still needed help dressing some of his burns after showering.

A few months prior to trial, according to Himel, Lei's chest and abdomen were completely scarred with a heavy layer of scar tissue. Parts of his neck, back, shoulders, arms and hands were also burned. A piece of the left ear has been burned away and the ear lobe was deformed. A red scar runs from ear to ear, which is not concealed in the neck under the chin, but is frontally visible on Lei's lower jaw. Himel described Lei's bellybutton as "nearly obliterated' and, as indicated, his right nipple had been removed. There was also scarring on his back and to the rear of his leg, sites from where the skin grafts were harvested.

Lei has a persistent limitation of range of motion in his neck because of scaring on the front of the neck and tightness of the skin, making it difficult for him to turn his head from side to side.

Lei claimed that he suffers from frequent, intense itching of his skin. He uses moisturizer and an antihistamine twice a week to control his itching. Weather that is other than moderate exacerbates Lei's discomfort. In the summer, he testified that he stays indoors, because the thick scars hold heat inside his body. He can not sweat because the pores of his skin are gone. Further, Lei claimed that in the winter the dry air makes his skin itch worse than at other times.

An occupational/hand therapist evaluated Lei on Oct. 18, 2001. She found a loss of range of motion on all of the fingers of the left hand and loss of grip strength. She noted a loss of range of motion in the little finger of his right hand. She testi¬fied that Lei was independently able to take care of himself and perform most household tasks except for opening cans, for which Lei has been forced to alter his methods.

Himel testified that all of Lei's scarring is permanent, as are the pain, the itching, and the sensitivity to cold, heat and humidity. Himel recommended that Lei undergo further surgeries on his neck and left hand, and Lei testified that he was willing to do so. Himel estimated Lei's future surgeries, including the hospital stays, to cost $80,000.

Psychologically, Lei described himself as "very depressed" a few months after he was discharged from his first hospitalization in 1998. Lei told psychiatrist Kathryn Grunes, who began treating him as an outpatient on Aug. 28, 2001, at New York Presbyterian Hospital's Westchester division, that he considered himself "a beast," which she testified has far reaching psychiatric implications with regards to his feelings of romantic undesirability and his self-esteem in general. Grunes pointed out that Lei's constant reminders of his condition-the scars on his hands and body-would make it difficult to overcome his depression.

Lei claimed that he became suicidal, and that approximate¬ly one year after his hospitalization his sister stopped him when she caught him with a pair of scissors, with which he intended to slit his wrists. In April 2002, Lei was voluntarily hospitalized for three days after telling Grunes that he was fearful of himself.

Lei began drinking to become intoxicated, but stopped in early 2003. He claimed that he escaped thereafter by sleeping a lot, and that he still saw sleeping as an escape.

Lei saw a series of psychologists and social workers between his time in the Bum Center and his first meeting with Grunes. As of trial, Lei was taking two anti-depressants, an anti-psychotic and an anti-anxiety drug. It was asserted, and unchallenged, that Lei would need to continue taking medication for the rest of his life.

In addition to Grunes, Lei called a second psychiatrist who saw him twice, in late 2002 and in 2003. He and Grunes agreed that Lei suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression as a result of the accident. Grunes described the

Both of Lei's psychiatrists testified that Lei would need continued treatment for ar least 10 years, if not the rest of his life, and that he would need to have at least two meetings a week. The defense called a psychiatrist, Dr. Paul Nassar, who opined that though Lei had elernenrs of post-traumatic stress disorder in the first few motlllis following the accident, he did not have complete post-trioimalic stress disorder now or ever.

Nassar saw Lei once, for a four-hour session on May 3, 2003. He argued that with post-traumatic stress disorder, a patient would "continue to live in the danger zone" and would suffer from "stimulus generalization," developing fear of stimuli that resembled that which caused the original trauma. However, Nassar pointed out that Lei returned to the sculpture lab in which he was burned post-accident and finished the sculpture he had been working on, using the instrument of his injury, the oxy-acerylene torch. Lei completed a second sculpture in 2001 in the same lab, also with the same kind of torch.

Nassar diagnosed Lei with adjustment disorder with depressive mood. Lie explained that adjustment disorder is a condition in which the individual develops psychiatric symptomatology due to a changed circumstance, such as a physical disability brought on by an accident.

Nassar did not contest that Lei's psychological problems would be permanent. He agreed that Lei, while withdrawn, did not have these problems prior to March 4, 1998.

Lei had little work history pre-accident. After the accident, he completed his studies, receiving a bachelor of fine arts degree from Brooklyn College in the spring of 1999 (a year later than he was scheduled to graduate pre-accident). In 2002, he worked part-time for the U.S. Census for two months. Next, he enrolled in a government-funded seven-week hotel training program, but before its completion he was hired by the not-for-profit Chinese-American Planning Council as a caseworker/Medicaid service coordinator. The job, which was full-time and required a college degree, paid $26,000 a year to start. Lei left the job in April 2002 after some difficulty with his supervisor. In June 2002, he began working as a security guard at Bellevue Hospital, part of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corp. The job required only a high school diploma, and Lei secured the position by taking a civil-service test.

Lei claimed that if the accident had not occurred he would have gone into an entry-level arts position in the summer of 1998, and his vocational-rehabilitation specialist estimated that such a job would have started at $25,000 a year. He called an economist who claimed that Lei would have also received the equivalent of an additional 11.4% of the annual salary in fringe benefits, offset by approximately 6% of work-related expenses that he would have paid.

Lei called a psychologist and rehabilitation specialist, who noted that Lei was now working in a high school graduate's job, and opined that Lei would stay on the same track. If the accident had not occurred, he argued that Lei would have been qualified for 57% of jobs in the New York labor market. He

Marin awarded Lei $6,582,848, which included $2.5 million for past and $2.5 million for future pain and suffering. Marin also awarded damages for past and future medication and psychiatric care expenses. He calculated past and future lost wages based on the economic and vocal vocational-rehabilitation experts called by Lei, and found that his past lost wages, for the three years he did not work between his expected graduation date and the trial, were $79,000. He also found that Lei's future lost wages- or the difference between what he would have earned had he entered the art sector and advanced to the average earnings potential in the 32 remaining years of his work life, rather than working in high school graduate-level jobs-were $850,920.

After the deduction for comparative negligence, the award was calculated at $5,266,278.

The attorneys were not asked to contribute to this report.