DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Polk County jury has awarded $12.25 million to a Panora man who learned after prostate cancer surgery, that a mistake had been made with his tissue samples: He didn’t have cancer. The jury said Friday that Iowa Clinic and its pathologist should pay 67-year-old Rickie Huitt and his wife the damages. The lawsuit they filed said Huitt’s tissue sample slides had been mixed up with those of a man who did have prostate cancer. The subsequent misdiagnosis led to removal of Huitt’s prostate gland in an April 2017 surgery that left him impotent and incontinent.

The Des Moines Register reports that the clinic acknowledged the error but fought the $15 million in damages the Huitts sought in their lawsuit. A lawyer for the clinic and the pathologist recommended Friday that jurors award the Huitts $750,000.