Articles Posted in Medical Malpractice

A Palm Beach County jury deliberated for over eight hours and awarded a West Palm Beach couple $4.5 million for the future care of their son, Bryan, who was born with only one limb–his leg. Jurors concluded that Dr. Marie Morel, OB/GYN failed to detect the boy’s disabilities before he was born. The jury found the doctor 85 percent at fault and the ultrasound technician at fault for the other 15 percent “for failing to properly read sonograms that would have alerted the couple of their son’s disabilities.” While the couple was seeking $9 million, they are still “overjoyed” by the verdict. The parents only requested money for their son’s care, not for their own suffering.

Bryan’s parents testified that they would have never brought their son into the world had they known of the disabilities he was facing. Instead, the couple would have terminated the pregnancy had they known of the missing limbs. The couple was seeking compensation for all of Bryan’s medical costs, including prostheses, wheelchairs, operations, attendants and other needs he will have during his estimated 70-year life. The parents simply wanted to know that their son would be “all right.”

Attorneys for Dr. Morel argued that Bryan’s parents rejected amniocentesis, fearing that it may have caused a miscarriage, and that the procedure could have revealed the baby’s injuries. The attorneys argued that the couple stated they would have rather brought a baby with disabilities into the world than no baby at all, contrary to their assertion that they would have aborted the baby. The jury rejected these arguments, and awarded the couple millions for their child’s care.

Jury awards West Palm Beach parents of child born with no arms, one leg $4.5 million, www.palmbeachpost.com September 10, 2011

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Sixty-seven year old Harold Hicks took an annual golf vacation, leaving the cold winter in Chesapeake, Ohio for some warmer weather down in Orlando, Florida. However, this year’s vacation was anything but fun. Hicks came to Orlando in January of 2006, with his wife and a group of friends, intending to play some gold, visit local restaurants and enjoy their retirement. But Hicks suddenly developed some stomach pains.

After suffering the stomach pains for more than a day, Hicks’ wife took him to Kissimmee’s Osceola Regional Medical Center. Hicks was diagnosed with a blocked intestine and doctors informed him that his condition required surgery. Hicks’ anesthesiologist, Dr. Scott Wurm ordered a “breathing tube be inserted down Hicks throat,” but neither Dr. Wurm nor the nurses did so. Wurm also instructed the nurse-anesthetist to intubate Hicks and left the room while she did so, while standard practice dictates that the anesthesiologist should remain in the room and supervise the procedure. “After the nurse inserted the tube, Hicks threw up and then breathed the vomit into his lungs, nearly suffocating him and causing brain damage.”

Hicks died the following day after suffering an infection from the contaminated vomit he had inhaled. The insurer paid a $1 million settlement to Hicks’ wife, stating the doctor’s absence during the procedure was a relevant factor in the case.

Medical mishap turns golfer’s Central Florida vacation into tragedy, www.orlandosentinel.com August 07, 2011.

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Veteran Robert Metzler received an unexpected notice in the mail in early 2009 from the Department of Veteran Affairs notifying him that he should be tested for certain blood borne illnesses, including hepatitis. The notice revealed that some medical equipment used for endoscopies and colonoscopies at the VA hospital, where Metzler received his 2007 colonoscopy, were not properly sanitized between patients. Metzler underwent the tests and was diagnosed with hepatitis C.

Metzler filed suit in federal court in Miami, asking for $30 million in damages–$20 million for his contraction of the disease and $10 million for his wife’s loss of consortium. Metzler contends that he contracted hepatitis C because of dirty equipment that was not properly sanitized. Lawrence Rosen, attorney for the VA Hospital, filed court documents that admit the VA Hospital reached its “duty of reasonable care,” and admits the hospital used improperly sterilized equipment, but denies that the equipment is what caused Metzler to contract hepatitis C.

This is the first case of its kind to reach a courtroom. Several similar cases have been settled outside of the courtroom, including eleven suits charging emotional distress in Miami. Nine malpractice suits have been filed in Tennessee. More than 11,000 veterans received procedures between 2004 and 2009 with improperly sanitized equipment across the nation, including Miami, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and Augusta, Georgia. Five veterans have tested positive for HIV, twenty-five have tested positive for hepatitis C and eight have tested positive for hepatitis B, all of whom were treated at one of the three facilities.

First Miami VA Colonoscopy Case Headed To Trial, www.miami.cbslocal.com July 11, 2011.

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Susan Kalitan went to Broward General Medicine surgery to repair carpal tunnel damage in her wrist, damage related to her work as a dental assistant. The surgery was supposed to be minor. But, during the wrist surgery, the anesthesiology team actually damaged her throat.

The anesthesiology team, led by Dr. Rob Alexander, injured Kalitan when they inserted a breathing tube down her throat. Kalitan’s esophagus was perforated during the procedure. Kalitan sued both Alexander and his employer, Anesco North Broward for damages. The doctor asserted that the one-sixteenth of an inch wide perforation was a known surgical risk and should not have constituted medical malpractice.

Regardless, the jury awarded Kalitan $4.7 million. The jury determined that the doctor and his two assistants were primarily at fault, but that the hospital was also 35 percent at fault. There has been no word as to whether Kalitan has been able to return to work.

Plantation woman awarded $4.7 million for surgery injury, www.sun-sentinel.com June 17, 2011.

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A Florida law that limits the amount of damages that victims can receive in medical malpractice cases has been the center of a heated debate for the past few years. The Florida law currently caps noneconomic damages at $500,000 per doctor in most cases. However, earlier this week, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals “rejected the challenge of the family of a medical malpractice victim who claimed the cap violated state and federal laws.” The damage cap “passes muster” according to the Court of Appeals and the family’s claim that the law “robbed them of their right to be justly compensated for medical mistakes” was dismissed. The Court’s Order also directed the Florida Supreme Court to address the remaining unresolved state issues, including whether the cap violates the right to a jury trial under Florida law.

The $500,000 cap was adopted in 2003 as a result of riding malpractice insurance premiums for doctors. “The law allows victims to receive any award for economic damages, such as lost wages, but restricts the amount of noneconomic damages for pain and suffering based on a complicated damage that depends on each case.” The case was initially filed because the family claimed, “lawmakers had no reason to believe the cap would reduce the cost of medical malpractice insurance.”

The case that reached the Court of Appeals was filed by the family of Michelle McCall, who died in 2006 at a Florida hospital after giving birth to her son. According to the family’s claims, the nurse who was looking after McCall never informed McCall’s doctor that her blood pressure was dangerously low during a surgical procedure and as a result, the doctor never checked McCall’s vital signs himself. A Florida judge awarded McCall’s estate $2 million in noneconomic damages, but was forced to reduce the award to $1 million because of the economic cap.

US appeals court upholds Fla. med. malpractice cap , www.naplesnews.com May 27, 2011.

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Senator John Thrasher proposed a bill that could potentially save the University of Florida’s teaching hospitals millions of dollars each year at the expense of the patients. The bill, SB 626, proposes to grant University of Florida’s Shands hospital sovereign immunity and will limit the amount a patient can win from a lawsuit stemming from a non-physician employee’s mistake. Physicians are protected by Florida’s immunity protections, which caps the amount an injured patient can win in a medical malpractice suit at $100,000 for a single person and caps damages at $200,000 for those who are married or have children.

Shands estimates that the bill could save it upwards of $10 million each year in medical malpractice premiums. Shands has settled over 24 cases for $100,000 or more since 2007. The University of Miami’s teaching hospital, Jackson Memorial Hospital, has already been granted such immunity. “Language placing both Shands’ and the University of Miami’s teaching colleges under immunity protection is also included in sweeping Medicaid reform legislation introduced in the Senate Thursday.” Shands already has plans on how to use the saved money–“to offset costs associated with unreimbursed care given to the medically needy.”

Opponents claim that the bill has too many holes to be successful. According to one medical malpractice attorney, “The cap is already too low. For many, it is too expensive to even pursue claims.” The provision protecting doctors prohibits many malpractice doctors from taking on malpractice claims against Shands because lawyers “are unable to process the claims.” The bill is in the early stages of becoming legislation.

Thrasher’s bill would limit awards under medical malpractice lawsuits, www.thefloridatimesunion.com February 19, 2011.

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