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A Wisconsin appeals court has given a major legal victory to the estate of a deceased woman suing for medical malpractice damages.

The District 1 Court of Appeals says the estate of Tywanda Luckett can argue that she was able to feel pain for part of the five years she was in a long-term care facility before her death in 2005.

Her lawyers had admitted the Milwaukee woman was in a persistent vegetative state but later discovered evidence showing several doctors believed she was conscious. Lawyers for the health care providers being sued argued it was unfair for Luckett’s attorneys to change their story.

The difference could mean millions of dollars in damages for pain and suffering in her estate’s medical malpractice case stemming from a tubal ligation in 2000.