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Monday, July 07, 2003Ater 24 years, there are still nights when Rande McDaniel's mind wanders to what might have been. A healthy baby boy. A normal childhood filled with school plays, Little League baseball, girlfriends, dances and his first car. And in adulthood, a decent job, a loving wife and a family of his own. But her son, Christopher, now 24, never had any of those things. And he never will. McDaniel's doctor botched Christopher's delivery so badly that his life has been confined by severe mental retardation. He can't talk. He wasn't potty trained until he was 15 years old. He drools. He's teased, taunted and outright avoided. Quite simply, McDaniel says, Christopher's life was ruined by her doctor, who was shopping while Christopher was being asphyxiated in the womb, and by a hospital that didn't use a fetal monitor, which would have discovered the problem. McDaniel, who lives in Brimfield Township, sued for malpractice in Summit County Common Pleas Court. Five years later, her hospital and doctor agreed to a settlement worth $1.9 million. That was in 1984. But if the same lawsuit were settled today, the amount would be much lower. ...Tears come easily to McDaniel when she talks about what happened 24 years ago. But that sadness turns to anger when she talks about capping damages on pain and suffering. ``These people -- doctors who mess up kids -- it gives them the right to do what they do and not care,'' she says. ``They can say, `Oh, I screwed up a kid for life, but it'll only cost me $500,000. I can handle that. It's no big deal.' They don't have to answer to nobody. That's not right.” You would think they could have found a better case illustration for doctors who screw up than a case of cerebral palsy. Not knowing the details of the case, it's hard to judge, but from what's presented in the article, it sounds like McDaniel's son is a typical case of cerebral palsy - which is just as likely to happen during fetal development as it is during the birth process. Recent studies suggest that it's more likely to happen before birth. The fact that the hospital didn't use fetal monitors (which some argue don't do much to improve outcomes, but only increase cesearean section rates) only means that the trial lawyers had an easier time pinning the blame on the hospital and obstetrician. Cerebral palsy cases are malpractice lawyer's dream - no easily identifiable cause, and thus difficult for a doctor to defend. The fact that the case went five years before being settled suggests that the hospital caved in rather than continue to bear the cost of defending itself. If they had no case, they would have settled sooner. The other case in the article, a young girl who's spine was injured during surgery, is a better illustration. But the argument that she deserves millions of dollars to compensate for her loss is specious. Large monetary awards for pain and suffering are nothing more than blood money. It's a means to satiate the desire for revenge. posted by Sydney on 7/07/2003 07:45:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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