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Article 1: “Family awarded $15
million.” Plain Dealer, Nov. 27, 2003
Article 2: “Preventing surgical
fires.” Sentinel Event Alert, Jun. 24, 2003
Article 3: “Juries: ‘Democracy
in Action’.” Newsweek, Dec. 15, 2003
Article
1: “Family awarded $15 million.” Plain Dealer, Nov. 27, 2003
Family awarded $15 million for birth injury
Scott Hiaasen, Plain Dealer Reporter
An obstetrician must pay more than $15 million to a Brecksville
family for rushing the delivery of a premature baby who suffered permanent brain
damage, a Cuyahoga County jury ruled yesterday.
Jurors found Dr. Dina DiCenzo responsible for the condition
of 5-year-old Garrett Bach, who has cerebral palsy and cannot walk, talk or perform
other basic tasks. After a seven-day trial, the jurors deliberated for just over
two hours before awarding $9.4 million for Garrett's care, and $3 million to each
of his parents, Sharon and Christopher.
As the verdict was read by Visiting Judge John Angelotta, Sharon
Bach cried on her husband's shoulder. "I wish it hadn't come to this,"
she told the jurors. "I wish he was normal."
Garrett was born at Parma Community General Hospital on May
8, 1998, after his mother went into labor in just the sixth month of her pregnancy.
Lawyers for the Bach family argued that DiCenzo should have immediately sent them
to MetroHealth Medical Center, which, unlike Parma, has a neonatal intensive care
unit specializing in premature babies.
MetroHealth later dispatched a team of specialists to Parma
to assist in the delivery, but DiCenzo went ahead with a Caesarian section just
as the team’s helicopter was landing, according to testimony. Garrett weighed
just under two pounds, and he wasn’t breathing when he was born. He struggled
for oxygen for about 16 minutes before the experts got to the delivery room and
took over, said John King, a lawyer for the Bachs.
Garrett later suffered a brain hemorrhage and seizures. King
said the cost of caring for the boy for the rest of his life will exceed $6.2
million.
Last year, the Bachs reached a settlement with Parma Hospital
and another doctor for $2.5 million, court records show.
DiCenzo, 41, who now practices in Pittsburgh, was not in court
when the verdict was read, and her lawyers would not comment. A message left at
DiCenzo’s office was not returned.
But in court papers, the doctor’s attorneys said DiCenzo
went ahead with the delivery because she thought that Bach’s contractions
were increasing and that birth was imminent. They also argued that there was no
evidence that DiCenzo’s actions led directly to Garrett’s injuries.
But Bach’s lawyers said birth was unlikely because the
baby was positioned horizontally across the birth canal.
It is unclear if the insurance for DiCenzo or her former medical
practice, Powers Professional Corp., will cover the total amount of the verdict,
King said.
DiCenzo is named in another lawsuit in Cuyahoga County in which
a patient claims that DiCenzo severed a baby’s toe while cutting the umbilical
cord during a 1999 delivery, court records show.
Article 2: “Preventing
surgical fires.” Sentinel Event Alert, Jun. 24, 2003
In the fire triangle—heat, fuel and oxygen—each
element must be present for a fire to start. And, though the incidents are significantly
under-reported, too often all three elements come together in a hospital's surgical
suite, yielding disastrous consequences.
Click
here to read the Sentinel Event Alert article.
Article
3: “Juries: ‘Democracy in Action’.” Newsweek, Dec. 15, 2003
John Edwards, a former trial lawyer, says lawsuits deliver justice to average
Americans The civil jury system, John Edwards argues, is good for America. He
ought to know. A veteran trial lawyer on a case that confirmed his belief in the
true meaning of justice.
Click
here to read the Newsweek article.
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