Dean Wang’s UCI Lawsuit and the $11.5 Million Settlement

The University of California Board of Regents agreed in February 2026 to pay $11.5 million to settle the Dean Wang UCI lawsuit, resolving claims that the UCI Health orthopedic surgeon severed a patient’s artery during a routine knee operation, misrepresented the injury, and allowed a three-day delay in diagnosis that ended in the amputation of Wayne Wolff’s left leg below the knee.¹

What Went Wrong in the Surgery

Wayne Wolff, a 58-year-old electrician from Perris, arrived at UCI Health on April 3, 2024, for an outpatient arthroscopic meniscus repair and high tibial osteotomy on his left knee. Dr. Dean Wang performed the two-and-a-half-hour procedure.²

During the operation, the lawsuit alleged, Wang cut the popliteal artery, the main blood supply to the lower leg. He reportedly identified the vessel as a vein and cauterized it. Controlling the bleeding took roughly 35 minutes, and Wolff lost about one liter of blood.³

Afterward, Wang allegedly told Wolff’s wife Lisa, a trauma nurse, that he had merely “nicked a vein” and estimated blood loss at 200 to 250 milliliters. The complaint argued the pulsating bleed should have signaled an arterial injury, not a venous one.²

The Three-Day Delay

Over the next three days, Wolff was in severe pain that opioids and ketamine did not touch. Providers documented no pulse in his left foot, and by the morning after surgery he had lost sensation and movement in his foot and toes. He was never transferred to the ICU. Lisa Wolff repeatedly asked for an ultrasound or CT scan to check blood flow, and staff dismissed the requests; at one point they suggested Wolff might be abusing narcotics at home.²⁴

The day after the operation, the lawsuit alleged, Wang left for a two-day trip to Naples, Florida, to film a promotional video for a medical device manufacturer, leaving Wolff’s care to residents.¹

On April 5 at 12:42 p.m., Dr. Abhinav Sharma ordered an ultrasound. According to the complaint, Wang canceled the order at 1:10 p.m., and other doctors declined to reinstate it. Asked later why he had canceled it, Wang allegedly answered, “I don’t know.” The complaint stated flatly that simple imaging would have saved the leg.²³

How the Injury Was Finally Found

Wang returned on April 6 and operated again, believing his patient had a blood clot. He also ordered an emergency angiogram, performed by vascular surgeon Samuel Chen. Chen found no clot. He confirmed instead that the popliteal artery had been cauterized during the original procedure and that Wolff’s lower leg had received no blood since April 3. Blood flow was restored, and Wang performed another surgery on April 9 to see whether the leg could be saved. It could not. Necrosis had set in, and surgeons amputated the lower half of Wolff’s left leg on April 14, 2024.²

How the Case Cleared California’s Malpractice Cap

Wayne and Lisa Wolff sued the UC Board of Regents on February 11, 2025, in Orange County Superior Court, alleging negligence, dependent adult abuse and neglect, loss of consortium, and negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress.⁴

The $11.5 million figure is unusually large for a nonfatal California medical case because the state’s Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act normally caps noneconomic damages in such claims at $470,000. The Wolffs’ attorney argued the cap did not apply because the lawsuit was pleaded as dependent adult abuse rather than straightforward medical negligence.¹

Under California’s Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act, claims against healthcare providers acting as custodians or caretakers are treated separately from professional negligence. When a plaintiff can show recklessness, oppression, fraud, or malice by clear and convincing evidence, enhanced remedies open up that MICRA’s cap does not restrict. Cases including Delaney v. Baker (1999) and Covenant Care, Inc. v. Superior Court (2004) established that framework, and it is the one the Wolffs used to reach damages well beyond the malpractice ceiling.⁵

Destroyed Evidence and an Unruled-On Sanctions Motion

During discovery, attorney Jeoffrey Robinson’s team learned that UCI Health had destroyed video footage of the April 3 surgery and internal messages between Wang and hospital staff about Wolff’s condition. The hospital said the materials had been erased under a “standard purging schedule” because cloud storage “was getting too full.” Robinson filed a motion for sanctions alleging intentional spoliation and concealment. The court had scheduled a hearing on that motion for April 22, 2026, but the case settled first. Robinson also noted that Wang had not been deposed by the time the settlement was reached.¹

UCI Health did not respond to requests for comment on the settlement.¹

Dr. Wang’s Status After the Settlement

Dr. Wang is board-certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery and serves as Chief of the Division of Sports Medicine in UCI’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, as head orthopedic surgeon for UCI Athletics, and as an associate professor at UC Irvine.⁶ His profile remains active on UCI Health’s website, and no public reports of medical board discipline, suspension, or changes to his hospital privileges have surfaced in connection with the Wolff case.⁷

What the Settlement Does Not Undo

Wayne Wolff had spent 30 years supervising tunnel-boring construction on subway and sewer projects across the United States and Canada. The amputation ended that career. “It’s too dangerous now to go down those shafts,” he told reporters. The couple moved out of their two-story home in Perris after he suffered more than eight falls on the stairs.⁸

After the settlement, Wolff said: “While we are relieved that this litigation nightmare is over, there is no amount of money that can undo what has been done. We hope both the hospital and Dr. Wang are forced to take drastic steps to ensure this never happens to anyone else.”¹

1
Orange County Register. Patient Who Claimed Botched Knee Surgery at UCI Health Led to Leg Amputation Gets $11.5 Million
2
Los Angeles Times. UCI Medical Center Patient Whose Knee Surgery Resulted in Amputation Sues
3
Orange County Register. UCI Medical Center Patient Loses Left Leg After Undergoing Routine Knee Surgery
4
KTLA. Routine Knee Surgery Ends in Tragic Loss of Leg for Southern California Man
5
New University. UC Regents Settle Amputation Lawsuit for $11.5 Million
6
UC Irvine. Dean Wang Faculty Profile
7
UCI Health. Dean Wang
8
Mercury News. Perris Man Deals With Gut Punch After Routine Surgery Leads to Leg Amputation at UCI Medical Center