Verdicts

Florida
Win for Woman Claiming Abuse During Pap Smear
A woman who claimed that a doctor molested her during a pap smear was awarded $280,000 by a Florida jury on February 27, 2003. Kathy Murphy, a 49-year-old painter and massage therapist, claimed that Dr. William Charles Leach, of Naples, FL, asked her to help perform a 'new pap smear technique' where she was required to massage her vagina. She claimed that the doctor masturbated near her. Leach did not attend the trial, and the plaintiff obtained a default judgment.

Missouri
Chiropractor At Fault for Ruptured Cervical Disc
A Missouri jury found a chiropractor at fault for cervical disc injuries and awarded his patient $118,366 on February 21. Leslie Krieger, 32, sought treatment for hip pain from Ellisville, MO-based chiropractor Leonard R. Suiter. He treated her on several occasions by manipulating her neck and back. Krieger alleged that a few days after her last visit, she could not get out of bed, and was subsequently taken to the emergency room. There, an MRI showed a ruptured cervical disc at C5-C6. Krieger sued Suiter for medical malpractice. He argued pre-existing degenerative joint and disc disease, and claimed that his treatment did not cause the injury.

New York
Jury Finds Hospital Negligent in Delayed Cesarean Birth
A jury found a hospital liable for permanent injuries suffered by a baby whose emergency Cesarean delivery was delayed for almost an hour.
In Wise v. McCalla Ms. Wise, whose baby was due in 6 days, presented over the 4th of July weekend, 1997, to Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn with complaints of abdominal pains. All medical witnesses, including the defendant, agreed that in order for an obstetrician to diagnose labor, the patient must have both regular uterine contractions and progressive dilatation of the cervix. All medical witnesses, including the defendant, agreed that this patient had neither of these criteria. Nevertheless, the defendant assumed that the patient's abdominal pains were due to labor. At delivery, an abruption of 20% of the placenta was found. The plaintiff argued that this was the cause of the abdominal pains and that the defendant was negligent in failing to consider the possibility of placental abruption.
The defendant argued that his diagnosis of labor was correct and that the abruption must have occurred immediately before the delivery. The fetal heart monitor tracing showed some decelerations starting with the time of the patient's admission at 9:45 a.m., and by 11:00 a.m. this pattern was so 'non-reassuring' that the obstetrical resident ordered preparations for an emergency Cesarean section because he was concerned about fetal well-being. At about 11:15 a.m.,
the defendant-attending obstetrician overruled the resident's plans for an emergency Cesarean section. At 12:25 p.m., the tracing became non-reassuring again, and the defendant ordered the emergency Cesarean section.

The undisputed testimony was that in such an emergency at this hospital, the baby should have been delivered within 10 minutes, 15 at the outside. The baby was not delivered until 1:11 p.m., 46 minutes after the order was given. The plaintiff argued that the delay was the fault of the defendant. The defendant agreed that the delay after his 12:25 order was inexcusable. He did not remember this patient, so he could not state why the delay had occurred, but he argued that the hospital must have been responsible for the delay. (The plaintiff had settled the case against the hospital shortly before trial for $6,000,000.) The former director of obstetrics at the hospital testified that sometimes delays like this were caused by unavailability of anesthesia personnel and that such delays tended to occur in July, on weekends, on holidays, and at lunchtime. The plaintiff argued that this was insufficient to fulfill the defendant's burden of proof in blaming the hospital. The court agreed with the plaintiff because of the lack of testimony that such a staffing problem had actually occurred in this particular case.

The jury found unanimously that the defendant was negligent in failing to make a differential diagnosis of placental abruption and that this failure was a proximate cause of the child's injuries. The child, over 5 years of age at the time of trial, is quadriplegic. She cannot walk, stand, sit, use her upper extremities, or talk. There was undisputed testimony that her life expectancy is near normal, and the jury found that the plaintiff's future life expectancy is 70 years. Plaintiff's experts testified that the gross future costs of caring for the child at home would total $78,279,999 and that institutional care would cost $191,259,913. The plaintiff's attorney told the jury in summation that they would not ask for any sum that assumed the mother would ever put her child in an institution. The jury awarded $75,000,000 for this item. In addition, plaintiff's experts estimated future medical treatment and expenses as $13,179,875, and the jury awarded $13,179,857 (the reversal of the last two digits was probably an error). Plaintiff's economist estimated loss of future earnings as $2,982,880, and the jury awarded $2,000,000. The jury also awarded $60,000 for past and $700,000 for future pain and suffering. The plaintiff had been willing at all times to settle the case against the defendant within the limits of his $1,000,000 insurance policy. The offer was only $250,000 during the trial, $350,000 toward the end of the trial, and $500,000 after the jury went out. As a result, the plaintiff will seek to recover the entire verdict in a 'bad faith' action against the carrier.

Ohio
Plaintiff Wins Suit After Heart Valve Repair Surgery
An Ohio jury awarded $9.5 million to a woman who testified from a portable hospital bed about her life as an invalid since her heart valve repair surgery.
The woman, Laurice Rizk, was taken by ambulance from a dialysis treatment, and brought into the courtroom on a gurney to tell the jury about her life since an April 2000 heart surgery at Southwest General Hospital in suburban Cleveland.
In addition to having dialysis three times a week, Rizk must be fed intravenously, requires a ventilator to breathe, and has suffered amputation of both legs. Rizk underwent heart surgery that included wrapping her mitral valve with a ring designed to keep blood from leaking from it into her lungs.
Plaintiff's attorney Charles Kampinski alleged that heart surgeon Rais A. Beg mistakenly placed an incorrectly sized ring on the valve, setting in motion a series of organ failures and infections that, compounded by further errors, left Mrs. Rizk permanently disabled.

Defense attorney Joe Farchione of Cleveland's Sutter, O'Connell, Manion & Farchione, said he will focus an appeal on jury sympathy for Rizk and the weight they gave to the sole plaintiff's expert, who described himself as 'somewhat of an expert' on key technical points. Farchione represented pulmonologists Linas F. Vaitkus and L. C, Rao, both of Ohio Chest Physicians Inc.
'The award is nowhere near the $29.5 million that was asked for, and it was lower than any amount the case could have been settled for before trial,' Farchione said. 'You combine that with an expert who was not qualified to testify and you have to wonder how big a part sympathy played.'
Kampinski said the $9.5 million verdict will shrink quickly due to $3.5 million in accumulated medical bills and the costs of ongoing care. Among other economic damages, he said, is the loss of a career as an electrical engineer by Rizk's daughter, who cares for her mother around the clock.
'Mrs. Rizk will never eat again,' Kampinski said. 'She is fed with a tube. People look at this as a large verdict. I beg to differ.'

Southwest General Health Center was represented by Don Switzer of Cleveland's Bonezzi Switzer Murphy & Polito. Beg, Dr. Susan M. Apte and Cardiovascular Surgeons Inc. were represented by William Meadows of Cleveland's Reminger & Reminger. Switzer declined to comment pending appeal. Meadows was unavailable for comment.

(The above case was written by Peter Page, a reporter for The National Law Journal, in which the article originally appeared.)

Texas
Hospital Hit over Sponges Left After Hysterectomy
A Texas jury found a hospital liable when surgical sponges were found inside a woman's abdomen following a hysterectomy. The operation had been performed by defendant Lynn Brazell, MD, at defendant Good Shephard Hospital in Longview, TX. The patient, Rita Bateman, 51, claimed that the sponges caused adhesions that led to a bowel obstruction. The defendants contended that her problems were the result of irritable bowel syndrome. On March 3, 2003, the jury awarded Bateman $332,000 against Good Shephard, but found no negligence on the part of Brazell.

Florida
Win for Woman Claiming Abuse During Pap Smear
A woman who claimed that a doctor molested her during a pap smear was awarded $280,000 by a Florida jury on February 27, 2003. Kathy Murphy, a 49-year-old painter and massage therapist, claimed that Dr. William Charles Leach, of Naples, FL, asked her to help perform a 'new pap smear technique' where she was required to massage her vagina. She claimed that the doctor masturbated near her. Leach did not attend the trial, and the plaintiff obtained a default judgment.

Missouri
Chiropractor At Fault for Ruptured Cervical Disc
A Missouri jury found a chiropractor at fault for cervical disc injuries and awarded his patient $118,366 on February 21. Leslie Krieger, 32, sought treatment for hip pain from Ellisville, MO-based chiropractor Leonard R. Suiter. He treated her on several occasions by manipulating her neck and back. Krieger alleged that a few days after her last visit, she could not get out of bed, and was subsequently taken to the emergency room. There, an MRI showed a ruptured cervical disc at C5-C6. Krieger sued Suiter for medical malpractice. He argued pre-existing degenerative joint and disc disease, and claimed that his treatment did not cause the injury.

New York
Jury Finds Hospital Negligent in Delayed Cesarean Birth
A jury found a hospital liable for permanent injuries suffered by a baby whose emergency Cesarean delivery was delayed for almost an hour.
In Wise v. McCalla Ms. Wise, whose baby was due in 6 days, presented over the 4th of July weekend, 1997, to Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn with complaints of abdominal pains. All medical witnesses, including the defendant, agreed that in order for an obstetrician to diagnose labor, the patient must have both regular uterine contractions and progressive dilatation of the cervix. All medical witnesses, including the defendant, agreed that this patient had neither of these criteria. Nevertheless, the defendant assumed that the patient's abdominal pains were due to labor. At delivery, an abruption of 20% of the placenta was found. The plaintiff argued that this was the cause of the abdominal pains and that the defendant was negligent in failing to consider the possibility of placental abruption.
The defendant argued that his diagnosis of labor was correct and that the abruption must have occurred immediately before the delivery. The fetal heart monitor tracing showed some decelerations starting with the time of the patient's admission at 9:45 a.m., and by 11:00 a.m. this pattern was so 'non-reassuring' that the obstetrical resident ordered preparations for an emergency Cesarean section because he was concerned about fetal well-being. At about 11:15 a.m.,
the defendant-attending obstetrician overruled the resident's plans for an emergency Cesarean section. At 12:25 p.m., the tracing became non-reassuring again, and the defendant ordered the emergency Cesarean section.

The undisputed testimony was that in such an emergency at this hospital, the baby should have been delivered within 10 minutes, 15 at the outside. The baby was not delivered until 1:11 p.m., 46 minutes after the order was given. The plaintiff argued that the delay was the fault of the defendant. The defendant agreed that the delay after his 12:25 order was inexcusable. He did not remember this patient, so he could not state why the delay had occurred, but he argued that the hospital must have been responsible for the delay. (The plaintiff had settled the case against the hospital shortly before trial for $6,000,000.) The former director of obstetrics at the hospital testified that sometimes delays like this were caused by unavailability of anesthesia personnel and that such delays tended to occur in July, on weekends, on holidays, and at lunchtime. The plaintiff argued that this was insufficient to fulfill the defendant's burden of proof in blaming the hospital. The court agreed with the plaintiff because of the lack of testimony that such a staffing problem had actually occurred in this particular case.

The jury found unanimously that the defendant was negligent in failing to make a differential diagnosis of placental abruption and that this failure was a proximate cause of the child's injuries. The child, over 5 years of age at the time of trial, is quadriplegic. She cannot walk, stand, sit, use her upper extremities, or talk. There was undisputed testimony that her life expectancy is near normal, and the jury found that the plaintiff's future life expectancy is 70 years. Plaintiff's experts testified that the gross future costs of caring for the child at home would total $78,279,999 and that institutional care would cost $191,259,913. The plaintiff's attorney told the jury in summation that they would not ask for any sum that assumed the mother would ever put her child in an institution. The jury awarded $75,000,000 for this item. In addition, plaintiff's experts estimated future medical treatment and expenses as $13,179,875, and the jury awarded $13,179,857 (the reversal of the last two digits was probably an error). Plaintiff's economist estimated loss of future earnings as $2,982,880, and the jury awarded $2,000,000. The jury also awarded $60,000 for past and $700,000 for future pain and suffering. The plaintiff had been willing at all times to settle the case against the defendant within the limits of his $1,000,000 insurance policy. The offer was only $250,000 during the trial, $350,000 toward the end of the trial, and $500,000 after the jury went out. As a result, the plaintiff will seek to recover the entire verdict in a 'bad faith' action against the carrier.

Ohio
Plaintiff Wins Suit After Heart Valve Repair Surgery
An Ohio jury awarded $9.5 million to a woman who testified from a portable hospital bed about her life as an invalid since her heart valve repair surgery.
The woman, Laurice Rizk, was taken by ambulance from a dialysis treatment, and brought into the courtroom on a gurney to tell the jury about her life since an April 2000 heart surgery at Southwest General Hospital in suburban Cleveland.
In addition to having dialysis three times a week, Rizk must be fed intravenously, requires a ventilator to breathe, and has suffered amputation of both legs. Rizk underwent heart surgery that included wrapping her mitral valve with a ring designed to keep blood from leaking from it into her lungs.
Plaintiff's attorney Charles Kampinski alleged that heart surgeon Rais A. Beg mistakenly placed an incorrectly sized ring on the valve, setting in motion a series of organ failures and infections that, compounded by further errors, left Mrs. Rizk permanently disabled.

Defense attorney Joe Farchione of Cleveland's Sutter, O'Connell, Manion & Farchione, said he will focus an appeal on jury sympathy for Rizk and the weight they gave to the sole plaintiff's expert, who described himself as 'somewhat of an expert' on key technical points. Farchione represented pulmonologists Linas F. Vaitkus and L. C, Rao, both of Ohio Chest Physicians Inc.
'The award is nowhere near the $29.5 million that was asked for, and it was lower than any amount the case could have been settled for before trial,' Farchione said. 'You combine that with an expert who was not qualified to testify and you have to wonder how big a part sympathy played.'
Kampinski said the $9.5 million verdict will shrink quickly due to $3.5 million in accumulated medical bills and the costs of ongoing care. Among other economic damages, he said, is the loss of a career as an electrical engineer by Rizk's daughter, who cares for her mother around the clock.
'Mrs. Rizk will never eat again,' Kampinski said. 'She is fed with a tube. People look at this as a large verdict. I beg to differ.'

Southwest General Health Center was represented by Don Switzer of Cleveland's Bonezzi Switzer Murphy & Polito. Beg, Dr. Susan M. Apte and Cardiovascular Surgeons Inc. were represented by William Meadows of Cleveland's Reminger & Reminger. Switzer declined to comment pending appeal. Meadows was unavailable for comment.

(The above case was written by Peter Page, a reporter for The National Law Journal, in which the article originally appeared.)

Texas
Hospital Hit over Sponges Left After Hysterectomy
A Texas jury found a hospital liable when surgical sponges were found inside a woman's abdomen following a hysterectomy. The operation had been performed by defendant Lynn Brazell, MD, at defendant Good Shephard Hospital in Longview, TX. The patient, Rita Bateman, 51, claimed that the sponges caused adhesions that led to a bowel obstruction. The defendants contended that her problems were the result of irritable bowel syndrome. On March 3, 2003, the jury awarded Bateman $332,000 against Good Shephard, but found no negligence on the part of Brazell.