$20 mil settlement

[Cara]

If this has been posted before, I am sorry I missed it. My husband had saved the article for me and I just got around to looking at it last night.
The article was "Lawsuit over girl's birth settled for $20 million" Nov. 11th Chicago Tribune page 1 of Metro section
Couldn't get the full text on the internet, but here is the link for the summary
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotrib ... 1069332629

Basically Evanston hospital settled a BPI case for $20 two days before closing arguments. It sounded like a pretty sever injury. "...permenanent nerve damage to her arms and her diaphragm." The article only reffers to it as a birth injury, but from the description and the fact that they state that she sought treatment at TCH I think all of us would make the same conclusion.
The last 2 paragraphs made me sooooooo mad:

"Hospital officials said they settled the case on the advice of the hospital's insurance group... The settlement did not require the hospital to admit wrongdoing, and no changes have been made to delivery procedures, Polzin said.

"We deeply regret the injury to this child and the pain it caused the family," Polzin said."The case came down to physician's judgement. We didn't feel that the physician or anyone else did anything wrong."

Translation: they are sorry they got caught, they are sorry this family had a good attorney. If they were truly sorry for what happened they would have admitted their wrong doing and would have changed their procedures so this would not happen to anyone else's child!

[admin]

That's just sick. It's nauseating and disgusting.

[Tessie258]

I went there but it said you have to pay to get the story.
T.

[Mac's Matthew]

I'd like to see the story too...anyone have it? Mac

[terri0320]

Abstract (Article Summary)

Doctors failed to perform a Caesarean section on the girl's mother even after the baby showed signs she was in the breech position, meaning that her backside was presenting first, [Thomas Demetrio] said. The girl's head became trapped by the mother's cervix, which failed to dilate completely, Demetrio said.

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotrib ... 1069332629

This is the link to buy so you can view the complete article.

Chicago Tribue does not have a website where you can see the whole article without paying for it. The only way you will be able to read the whole article is for someone to post it or buy it.

[admin]

Forget the Trib. Here's an article on that case - and it's free!

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/cgi-bin/ppo ... 60924.html

[cherie_hohertz]

Here's the original article from the Chicago Tribune..

Lawsuit over girl's birth settled for $20 million
Advertisement


By Carlos Sadovi
Tribune staff reporter

November 11, 2003

The parents of a child injured during birth in 1998 and Evanston Hospital reached a $20 million settlement Monday after a nearly three-week medical negligence trial that was to go to the jury this week.

The parents of the girl, now 5, and the hospital's parent company, Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Corp., agreed to the settlement in the nearly 4-year-old case two days before closing arguments were expected in the trial, said Thomas Demetrio, a lawyer for the family.

During the trial before Cook County Circuit Judge Donald Devlin, lawyers for Kimberly Ault and her daughter, Kelsey Ann, argued that doctors botched her delivery on June 8, 1998, resulting in permanent nerve injuries to her arms and her diaphragm.

Doctors failed to perform a Caesarean section on the girl's mother even after the baby showed signs she was in the breech position, meaning that her backside was presenting first, Demetrio said. The girl's head became trapped by the mother's cervix, which failed to dilate completely, Demetrio said.

Doctors delivering the child "applied excessive traction or pulling prior to delivery," which led to nerve damage in the girl's shoulder and diaphragm, Demetrio said. Two months after birth, the baby underwent treatment at Children's Hospital in Texas for injuries suffered in the delivery.

"She will have ongoing, possibly lifelong [injuries]," Demetrio said. "She will have to have physical therapy once a week for an hour at a time to keep her muscle tone as best as it can be, especially as she ages. Every once in a while, I think it's important that people are aware that the system is working."

Lawyers also alleged that doctors and other hospital officials failed to conduct follow-up ultrasounds of the mother a month before the girl was born, which showed that there may be complications.

"There was evidence that they should have been given an ultrasound every two to three weeks," Demetrio said. "They did not take follow-up ultrasounds, and that was not good."

The family could not be reached for comment but applauded the verdict, Demetrio said.

"They are pleased that they were able to utilize the civil system that we have. This was one of those cases where mistakes were made," Demetrio said.

Hospital officials said they settled the case on the advice of the hospital's insurance company, said Gail Polzin, a spokeswoman for the hospital group. The settlement did not require the hospital to admit wrongdoing, and no changes have been made in delivery procedures, Polzin said.

"We deeply regret the injury to this child and the pain it caused the family," Polzin said. "The case came down to the physician's judgment. We didn't feel that the physician or anyone else did anything wrong."

[Cara]

From the evanston article:
"Polzin said Cook County is the second or third worst court jurisdiction in the nation in terms of malpractice jury awards and settlements.

"Eventually society is going to pay for this," Polzin said. "I don't want to sound like we are whining, but with (medical) reimbursements going down, this is another expense you have to absorb."

Let me get this straight, they screw up and then blame the parents for seeking restitution!?!?!?!?!?! They should get it through their thick heads that when doctors screw up they have to pay for their actions instead of passing the buck on to society. Shame on them, Shame on them.

[Cara]

Here are a couple more versions of the story

http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/vnews/ ... 2459e3eb9b

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/111103_ ... wsuit.html