Hammargren calls victim ‘a survivor’

Kim Smith

Monday, Dec. 10, 2001 | 9:44 a.m.

Las Vegas neurosurgeon Lonnie Hammargren has treated 20,000 patients over the last 30 years. Lorraine Mosca is one of maybe five he will never forget, he told jurors in a civil trial Friday.

Mosca, who is suing the owners of the shopping mall where she was permanently injured during a store robbery, is one of those patients who make his job worthwhile, Hammargren said.

"She is a survivor," Hammargren said. "She had the will to live."

Friday was day five in Mosca's civil trial against Farallon Decatur Meadows Ltd. The trial continued this morning before District Judge Gene Porter.

Mosca was a 23-year-old engineering student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in October 1995 when 25 teenagers walked into the Wherehouse music store where she worked, stuffed compact discs and other items into their clothing and began walking out of the store.

When Mosca asked them if they planned to pay for the items, she was punched in the head and sent crashing to the floor. A co-worker was punched in the nose and is also a party in the lawsuit. Mosca and the co-worker, Kristine Lukehart, are claiming a lack of security at the shopping center, at Decatur Boulevard and Meadows Lane, led to the attack. They are also suing their primary attackers.

Andre Colon, 23, is serving eight to 20 years for striking Mosca. Rasool Ramoz, 23, and Marcus Hall, 24, are serving five to 20 years. Ramoz and Hall will first be eligible for parole in 2002 and 2003, respectively, according to the Nevada Department of Prisons.

Hammargren testified Friday that he performed five surgeries on Mosca's brain. He described having to remove a large portion of her skull to relieve the pressure, calling it an "extremely aggressive and interesting" surgery that typically doesn't work.

Mosca not only defied the odds of surviving the surgeries, Hammargren said, she relearned how to walk and talk.

She went on to graduate from college and is working at Bechtel Nevada, although she had to change her focus from working in the field to remaining confined to a desk because of her inability to navigate hills and walk on sand.

Hammargren, a former Nevada lieutenant governor and university regent, said Mosca will always suffer some problems as a result of the attack. She can't write with her right hand, she will always need special shoes to walk with and she sometimes has problems with different concepts.

Occasionally, the wrong word will pop out in conversation, he said.