United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

On the front page of todays Reading Eagle (Reading, PA)was an article about a local little boy with bpi who was awarded $2.25 million at trial. This is the largest amount awarded in a medical malpractice case in this county. I'm not sure if Jen ever reads the message boards or not but I wanted to share this information with everyone. This county is a very conservative, hardy bunch of folks and I've heard that getting a jury award is difficult so this win is a major major win.

Thanks Joann for posting this. I just read the article. I was bothered though that they included the quote of the hospital director and the delivering doctor - could be very misleading to those who do not really understand this injury. Christy

Sorry - forgot to say how extremely happy I am for this family!!:) What great news! Christy

I am happy for this family....

http://www.readingeagle.com/re/news/1019924.asp

Heller also criticized the jury's decision.

“This legal outcome, based on sympathy rather than good medicine, is another illustration of why so many physicians who try every day to do their best are leaving Pennsylvania or quitting practice altogether,” she said.

that was a quote from the news article btw

What I think was great poetic justice though was that in the newspaper (you cant see that when looking at the article on the internet) right next to this article on the front page was an article about the dr. in Boston leaving a patient during back surgery to go deposit his check! Doesnt that just say it all! Seems like his paycheck was more important than his patient! Now I've always heard very good things about the ob involved in this lawsuit mentioned but ya know what just because she is a good ob doesnt mean she cant make mistakes. It's no different than a safe driver using a bit of poor judgement and causing an accident. And when someone causes an accident they are accountable to make restitution. Why then they feel justified in making comments about this judgement being based on sympathy is beyond me. Of course its sympathetic! The jury saw what happened to this little boy! Those comments are all designed to get people up in arms about drs. leaving the state. I think it is amazing that in the political/medical climate of PA that the jury in this county awarded the biggest med. malpractice amount ever and for a bpi case no less! It sounds like they want to set up a system here similar to California with the awards limited. It will be interesting to see what happens!

I am thrilled for the family! I am very disappointed in the writer, she interviewed the Lawyer for the Hospital and got their side......but no mention what exactily a BPI involves.........or what this child will have to go through his ENTIRE life......FYI......the writers email address is hherman@readingeagle.com I dont think it would hurt to drop her a line or an address of a BPI injury site.

This evening I followed the link and read the article, I was disappointed as well to read the comments made. I too am in a lawsuit, and I have good friends that at one time asked why bother? IT'S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY is always my answer. We are fortunate enough to have medical insurance, however, we were just informed that there is a per incident limit. What do we do when our insurance runs out? Our insurance sends us a summary of every thing they pay. My daughter is only 6 months old and they have already paid close to a half million in doctor's bills, and that's only with one surgery. When our insurance runs out and my daughter needs more surgeries and therapy or equipment.... how am I going to pay for that? 2.2 Million doesn't sound to me like it will go very far. I AM VERY ANGRY, at the persons who made the mistakes during my delivery, BUT NOT at the people who don't understand what my entire family goes through because of it. The stress alone should have killed us all off months ago, but THEY don't understand, they don't log on to this site and listen to all of us support each other, they are not there at night when your child is screaming in pain and won't go to sleep, nor at therapy, they have no idea what we go through. If they knew they would agree with all of us, that the family deserved a lot more.
Thanks for letting me blow some steam.

That is great news!!! How can this be the largest if my daughter was awarded 3.5 million from the jury...anyways, that is just another positive step for our BPI children!