United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hang in there gal. I'm sure it will be hard until it is all over. You are all in our prayers. Good Luck.
Terri

I'm sure from the subject line you have already figured out that we LOST! How - I don't know! I have no idea what the jury sat there and heard - but it obviously wasn't what happened!

Ken did an unbelievable job spelling everything out - and in simple terms! All I can think of is that Ann Arbor, MI is a doctors town - and people want to believe that doctors don't make mistakes!

I'm literally sick to my stomach! And for those who are still going thru this - my best of luck to you !

Dr. Jones - yep, I can now say whatever I want because there is no liability - Dr. Jody Jones, MD of Canton Obstetrics and Gynecology in Canton, Michigan sat there with a smug grin on her face - and smiled and grinned throughout the entire trial! She was able to smile and enjoy herself even after viewing video tape of my daughter - and innocent child that she delivered with her deformed arm that is markedly shorter and smaller and without the function of a regular arm and smile! And knowing this could have been prevented!

SO LISTEN UP PEOPLE: IF YOU LIVE IN THE MICHIGAN AREA AND PLAN TO HAVE CHILDREN - DO NOT, AND I REPEAT DO NOT GO TO CANTON OB/GYN AND ENLIST THE SERVICES OF YVONNE MANBER, MD. OR JODY JONES, MD!

There are 3 other doctors in the practice that are wonderful and I would go back to them in a heartbeat - those would be Dr. Preya Gupta - Dr. Donna Caron, and Dr. Hrozenzik - BUT here's the kicker -even though one of them may give you all your prenatal care - if you go into labor and one of the other 2 are on call -that is who delivers your baby - and we've already found out if it's Dr. Jones - she doesn't read your chart before delivery - especially if it's on a weekend! That was her defense - or at least part of it - Cassidy was delivered on a Sunday and the medical records "just aren't available" on the weekend!

I WILL NEVER TRUST OUR LEGAL SYSTEM OR ANOTHER DOCTOR AGAIN!

Anita,

I am so sorry. It is amazing that the jury can sit there, everyone in the room hears the same thing, then come back with a not guilty verdict. My heart goes out to you and your family.

Hugs,

Nancy

I am so sorry to hear that you lost, from reading the boards, it seems that more cases lose than win over there in the states, I just don't understand how so many babies can suffer these injuries and NO-ONE is being held responsible for it.
I am so very very sorry to hear this for you and your little angel.
you are in our thoughts
Karen
ps; btw - has anyone ever done a calculation on how many families have won cases and how many lost? were there any similarities between the deliveries of those who won compared to those who lost? ( hope I made that clear lol) I would LOVE to know this, I am so interested in this aspect of bpi's.

I am also very sad for you Anita! We are just starting this process and I am terrified that the Dr/Hospital will insist on a trial. I don't know the exact statistics on win vs lose but it is very low. Perhaps as many as 80 or 90 % lose. This is, I believe, because the Dr or hospital or insurance company won't let a case go to court that they are pretty sure they can't win. They are afraid of the damages the jury might award if they lose so they settle the cases that think they have any chance of losing.

I agree with Lyn ND about having a fund set up for victims of this type of injury and I believe that some system similar to the no-fault automobile insurance we have in California would be a good start.

There is no way to get a doctor or his insurance company to acknowledge or take responsiblity for an injury without filing a lawsuit. Then it's all or nothing! It's just a numbers game for them while we must deal with the consequences every day for years or forever.

Joshua

We are really sorry to hear you lost.
It is really amazing how those people can sit there and listen to all the horrible things that a child has gone through, and will go through in the future, and say that it is not the doctors fault.

Sometimes I have to force myself to read some of the posts like this one. We are at the beginning stages of the lawsuit, and when I read stuff like this, it makes me wonder if it is really worth the pain.
But then I look at my daughter and know down inside that I have to do everything that I can to help her. I know that some things will be painful, but in the end, I can only hope that things will work out for the best.

The OB/GYN that I went to for my last pregnancy was the same way. When I found out I was pregnant again, I had to find a new OB. It wasn't easy, but I think I have found one.

Good luck to you all in the future Anita. Hang in there and be thankful that you have a healthy daughter (outside the BPI).

Terri

Joshua,
You are absolutely right....the doc's lawyer won't let a case go to trial that they don't think they'll win. (obviously, they're wrong sometimes) Our lawyer told us without a doubt, that we did NOT want to go to trial. I couldn't believe it when he told me that, but then again, I didn't really want to go to trial. I had no desire to go through that agony. We did settle out of court before we even had a trial date. Hopefully your lawyer knows this and is planning to try to settle out of court.
Anita, I'm so sorry your case lost. What a horrible thing for you and your family to have to go through. I can only imagine how devastating it is. I hope you can eventually feel like this is the turning point and you can start to put this behind you. Our plan if we lost was to also BLAST our OB in public, but unfortunately, settling the case did NOT allow us to do that. So perhaps you can look at it as a (very small) positive. You can say all you want about this doctor! Think how many babies you can save!
Best of luck.

Anita- I can't find the post with the details about losing the trial? What happened? I am so angry for you. It's just not right. I am speechless.

There are now so many people who have lost at trial. I'm thinking about setting a specific chat night just for those who have lost at trial so that you all can get together and support each other. Do you think this might be a good idea?

Big hugs to you - I am SO sorry! How are you going to move past this? Can you ever move past this I wonder? Do you have a counselor that can help? or someone else who you can vent to and process this with?

We're here for you Anita. Please take care of yourself.

-francine

Dear Anita,
I tried to email you directly but my email to you bounced so I am posting this instead.

I am so sorry to hear about your losing your case. It is not about justice because if it were, you would have won. And you had one of the best lawyers that there is fighting for you.

I don't want to add anything to make your day any worse than it already is but I'm afraid that we have had to have to delete your post on the message boards because it violates our policy and we must enforce that policy equally to all. I hope you understand.

As much as your post expresses your desire to inform others about the doctor who caused harm to your family and that is a just cause, there are some things that simply can't be said in a public forum. While I know that you are in such an extemely difficult place right now, I don't want anything to come back later to haunt you or to hurt either you or UBPN.

I wish we could edit your post to just take out the remarks about the doctors but we can only remove entire posts not edit them, so if you want to repost, please do so, ok? You are always free to invite people to email you directly for more information.

You have all my sympathy. I know it was difficult to pursue litigation but someday your little one will grow up and you can explain that you were fighting for her. I often wondered, myself, why my parents did not pursue this on my behalf and wished that they had. So console yourself with the knowledge that you have done the very best for your child.

Nancy Birk
UBPN President