Result - $8,500,000
Jones v. Berry; Kadlec Medical Center
Medical Malpractice / Anesthesia Error
Kim Jones was a vibrant 30-year-old woman, who came to Kadlec Medical Center for the labor and delivery of her third child, KaeDence who was born at 6:05 a.m. on November 12, 2002. Kim and her life partner, Christopher Mirisciotta, had previously decided that three children was enough for their family, so Kim consented to a tubal ligation which was scheduled for the afternoon of November 12, 2002.
Kim Jones was taken to the operating room at Kadlec for the tubal ligation at 2:56 p.m. on November 12, 2002. Her anesthesiologist was Dr. Robert Lee Berry, who determined that she would undergo general anesthesia. The tubal ligation surgery itself lasted 10 minutes, from 3:24 p.m. to 3:34 p.m., and was uneventful.
Following the surgery, Dr. Berry then prematurely extubated Kim (took out her breathing tube) while she was still paralyzed and stopped ventilating her with oxygen. He left her unmonitored, without the ability to breathe on her own, and without assisting her with supplemental oxygen. In the process of readying her for the recovery room, a nurse noticed that Kim's fingernail beds were blue and that she was not breathing and was without a pulse. The nurse suggested that a CODE be called, but Dr. Berry declined, delaying further while he reconnected Kim's monitoring equipment before he agreed that other personnel should be summoned to resuscitate Kim. A CODE was called at 3:41 p.m. and CPR was initiated with Dr. Berry leading the resuscitation. Though they did regain a normal heart rhythm after 8-10 minutes, Kim never regained consciousness, and required mechanical ventilation. She was transferred to Harborview Medical Center by airlift the next morning on November 13, 2002, where she was diagnosed with a severe anoxic brain injury.
After filing this lawsuit, lawyers for the Jones and Mirisciotta families learned that Dr. Berry was diverting (stealing) narcotic medications, mainly Demerol, from his patients at Kadlec Medical Center, including from Kim Jones, for his own personal use. Hospital administrators confronted Dr. Berry on November 14, 2002, two days after Kim's injury, about diversion and misuse of narcotics and he signed a confession stating that he had in fact, been diverting Demerol from patients for his own use. He was escorted out of the hospital, entered a drug treatment center and has not returned to the practice of medicine. In fact, Dr. Berry testified at his deposition and took the 5th Amendment 30 times, refusing to answer questions under oath about his drug diversion and drug use. Dr. Berry presently resides in Louisiana and has an active, unrestricted license to practice medicine in Louisiana. After numerous letters were sent by plaintiffs' lawyers to the Washington Department of Health, and other government officials demanding and investigation, Dr. Berry's license to practice medicine was suspended in the State of Washington on March 18, 2004, over 15 months after Kim's injury.
Judge Craig Matheson granted plaintiffs summary judgment on August 22, 2003, declaring that Kadlec Medical Center was vicariously liable for all negligent conduct of Dr. Berry. However, Kadlec Medical Center was a defendant in this lawsuit, not just for the vicarious liability of Dr. Berry, but also for its own corporate negligence. Kadlec Medical Center held a care conference with Kim Jones' family, but did not tell them that Dr. Berry had admitted that he stole and used narcotics from the hospital. Kadlec Medical Center also did not report Dr. Berry's drug diversion to any authorities, and was later cited by the Washington State Department of Health for failure to report this event. Although Kadlec representatives later admitted that its pharmacy control systems showed abnormally high use of Demerol by Dr. Berry as early as October 2002, it was not until November 14, 2002 (two days after Kim Jones injury) that the Pharmacy Director performed a "routine" printout of the software data alerting him to Dr. Berry's abnormal drug use. Plaintiffs' lawyers also learned that documents regarding Dr. Berry were "missing" from the hospitals' previous paper system of monitoring drugs. Ultimately, over a year after the Kim Jones injury, the hospital admitted to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency that at least 155 units of the narcotic Demoral were stolen by Dr. Berry.
Additionally, prior to Kim Jones injury, several Kadlec Medical Center employees reported concerns about Dr. Berry to their supervisors, but hospital administrators took no steps to investigate Dr. Berry prior to Kim's tragic injury. To the contrary, Kadlec Medical Center actually credentialed or recredentialed Dr. Berry seven times while he practiced at Kadlec Medical Center. Further, Kadlec Medical Center failed to follow proper credentialing procedures in initially granting hospital privileges to Dr. Berry. If Kadlec had done the appropriate investigation of Dr. Berry's past medical practices it would have found that just months before beginning to work at Kadlec Hospital, Dr. Berry was terminated from his prior employment as a physician in Louisiana with Lakeview Anesthesia Associates and at Lakeview Medical Center because he had reported to work in an "impaired physical, mental and emotional state." A letter written by Dr. Mark Dennis, Director of Lakeview Anesthesia Associates and Chairman of the Anesthesia Department at Lakeview Medical Center, stated that Dr. Berry's impaired condition prevented him from properly performing his duties and put his patients at "significant risk." Neither Lakeview Anesthesia Associates nor Lakeview Regional Medical Center reported the incident regarding Dr. Berry to any authorities or Kadlec Medical Center. The settlement with Robert Lee Berry, M.D., and Kadlec Medical Center, does not preclude plaintiffs from litigation against Lakeview Anesthesia Associates or Lakeview Regional Medical Center.
JUDGMENT - $20,503,288
Noduft v. Heritage Consumer Products LLC
Product Liability / Pharmaceutical Negligence
PPA Case Involving Hemorrhagic Stroke Caused By Over-The-Counter Drug Allerest
On June 18, 2002, King County Superior Court Judge Catherine Shaffer entered a judgment against Heritage Consumer Products LLC (Heritage) of Brookfield, Connecticut. Heritage is a pharmaceutical company that sells over-the-counter drugs to consumers, one of which is Allerest, an allergy medication. Allerest contained phenylpropanolamine (PPA), a chemical that has been linked to the occurrence of hemorrhagic strokes. On May 10, 2000, Yale University School of Medicine released the findings of six years of research on the incidence of hemorrhagic stroke and the use of products containing PPA. The findings are contained in a report entitled "Phenylpropanolamine & Risk of Hemorrhagic Stroke: Final Report of the Hemorrhagic Stroke Study" ("Yale Study"). The Yale Study was published in the December 21, 2000 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 343, number 25, pages 1826-1832. The Yale Study, an epidemiological study funded by the pharmaceutical industry, confirms earlier case reports and studies, and concludes that there is a causal link between the use of medicinal products containing PPA and the incidence of hemorrhagic stroke. That is, the risk of hemorrhagic stroke is substantially increased by the consumption of PPA. The Yale Study cites numerous published medical case reports and medical studies from as early as 1979 about the increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke and the use of products containing PPA.
On November 3, 2000, following the release of the Yale Study, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a letter to all manufacturers of products containing PPA in which the FDA recommended the discontinuation of any and all products containing PPA. On November 6, 2000, the FDA issued a Public Health Advisory regarding the causal connection between the use of products containing PPA and an increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke, and recommended that consumers not use any products containing PPA. No pharmaceutical company has issued a general recall of PPA containing products, nor was a warning issued. Most products, including Allerest, were withdrawn from the market. Many, including Allerest, have been returned to the market with the PPA replaced by another antihistamine component.Result - $8,000,000
Birth Injury / Medical Malpractice
This case involved the profound anoxic brain injury suffered by a baby boy at birth. Early in labor, everything went well. However, as the mother approached the pushing stage, the baby's heart rate began to have recurrent decelerations indicative of intermittent cord compression, that persisted with virtually every contraction and worsened as time went on. The defendant doctor and nurse were aware of these decelerations, but did not appreciate their significance and never informed the family, nor made any effort to expedite the delivery, even though the baby was no longer descending the birth canal. At one point the mother requested a C-section, not because she knew anything was happening with her baby, but because she was exhausted after pushing with no progress. This request was declined. After 3-1/2 hours of persistent, worsening heart rate decelerations the baby's reserve was exhausted and his heart rate no longer returned to the normal range. The defendant doctor returned to the delivery room and moved the mother to the operating room, but instead of performing an immediate Ceserian section, he wasted valuable time making a couple of attempts at vacuum extraction, which failed. The baby was finally delivered by emergency C-section. He was born blue, limp and lifeless. He was resuscitated, but had suffered profound brain damage. The baby boy was permanently and severely injured. He has a trachesotomy, is tube fed and hydrated. He will not walk, talk, or enjoy life as he should have if his birth had been appropriately managed. The settlement obtained by Perey Law Group allowed him to live at home, purchase a handicap equipped van, and obtain necessary health care.
Result: - $3,200,000
Birth Injury and Trauma / Brain Damage and Medical Malpractice
Defendant was a hospital is a large urban hospital with a busy labor and delivery department. It operates a clinic and a residency program for prospective family practice physicians. The 19 year-old mother gave birth to a baby, who sustained severe brain damage at birth due to hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy related to a botched delivery by an inexperienced first year family practice resident physician. The first-year resident was a hospital employee and was subject to continuing oversight by board-certified family-practice physicians for prenatal issues, labor, and delivery. However, during labor the fetal heart rate monitor showed that baby was suffering from lack of oxygen in his bloodstream due to a prolonged delivery. The first-year resident failed to inform the attending doctor about the difficult birth and a cesarean section (C-section) was not performed. The baby was born blue and lifeless. Shockingly, a full neonatal resuscitation team was not present at the time of delivery. As a result, the baby was not intubated until 4 minutes of life. The attending doctor did not attend the birth; arriving 5 minutes after the delivery, 43 minutes after the mom began pushing and 1 hour and 15 minutes after being called. Because of the medical malpractice and failure to perform a C-section, the baby suffered catastrophic brain damage, the direct result of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), cerebral palsy, and developmental delay.
Result: - $2,500,000
Product Liability / Pharmaceutical Negligence
Diet Drugs
This was a pre-filing settlement of a case involving injuries sustained by a 56-year old woman taking the diet drugs Phen-Fen and Redux. The plaintiff began having severe respiratory difficulty within six months of taking the diet drugs and was diagnosed with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension (PPH). PPH a life threatening condition causing injury to the heart and lungs that required her to undergo treatment with prostacyclin (Flolan), a medication that is administered continuously through a surgically implanted IV site. The woman will be Floan dependant for the rest of her life. The PPH is a condition that was excluded from the diet drug class action suits. The PPH has rendered the Perey Law Group client disabled and forced her to retire from the records division of a local police department where she was employed for ten years. If the Floan is unsuccessful in controlling the respiratory distress she experiences, the only other form of treatment available is a heart-lung transplant. The case was settled before trial.
Result - $2,500,000
Birth Injury / Medical Malpractice
In this birth injury / medical malpractice case, a baby boy suffered catastrophic brain damage and cerebral palsy due to the delayed delivery and inadequate resuscitation which caused birth asphyxia, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (brain injury due to lack of oxygenated blood) and spastic quadriparesis with athetoid features, cerebral palsy (weakness and incoordination of the limbs). The defendant doctor was the mother's physician throughout the pregnancy. There were three failed induction attempts but ultimately the mother went into labor and presented to defendant Hospital at 1:15 a.m. Fetal heart rate monitoring initially showed a very reassuring fetal heart rate pattern. When the amniotic membrane's ruptured at 9:00 a.m., moderate meconium (baby's first bowel movement) with particulate was noted, and there were very frequent uterine contractions and periods of diminished fetal heart rate variability. The defendant doctor inserted an intra-uterine pressure catheter and began amnio-infusions (pushing saline into the uterus in attempts to dilute the particulate meconium which places the baby at risk for aspiration). The hospital nurses did not monitor the amnio-infusions nor make attempts to improve the fetal heart rate by changing maternal position, providing oxygen, or giving IV fluids. As the labor progressed, the fetal heart rate monitor showed worsening deep decelerations that persisted through the second (pushing) stage of labor and variability was lost, but the parents were never informed of the non-reassuring fetal information. The defendant doctor did not make any efforts to expedite delivery or convert to a C-section.
At delivery, the baby was limp and blue with no respiratory effort. He was a large baby, weighing almost 10 pounds. No cord blood was obtained, so the level of his acidosis can only be calculated in retrospect. He had a heart rate over 100, and his one-minute Apgar scores were 2, 5, and 6. Since non of the hospital nurses were trained to intubate babies and they had failed to have a neonatologist present at delivery, the anesthesiologist was called, who arrived and intubated the baby at 10 minutes of life to provide endotracheal suctioning. When suctioned, 1-2 cc of greenish meconium was aspirated and the baby was reintubated. The neonatologist was called by the anesthesiologist at 19 minutes of life, and did not arrive for another 35 minutes.
After his birth, the baby was critically injured with severe diffuse hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). He continued on the ventilator and remained unstable with seizures with a markedly abnormal EEG. Early CT scans showed diffuse edema. A brain MRI/MRA revealed diffuse areas of ischemia, small subdural and subarachnoid hemorrhages, and bilateral cerebral swelling. He also had evidence of liver and renal dysfunction from the HIE. The parents were told that the prognosis from his massive brain injury was dismal and he would soon die. However, the baby did not die. He stopped having seizures and became more responsive to his surroundings, turning toward his parents' voices and reaching to them. He demonstrated a will to survive, so the parents began to feed him through the nasogastric tube, then with a bottle. He gained weight and in three weeks they began arrangements to get him involved with therapists and developmental specialists.
This baby boy defied the early predictions, but is now severely developmentally delayed with spastic quadriplegia with athetoid features. He has cerebral palsy. He has low trunk tone such that he cannot even sit up unassisted, but he also has excessive extremity tone, right worse than left, making his arms and legs rigid and unable to coordinate movements. At two-and-three-quarter years old, he could scoot himself forward on his belly, but he could not crawl on his hands and knees, nor walk. He is microcephalic (small head size) because his injured brain has not grown normally. Though visually impaired, he recognizes his parents. He can follow some simple commands, but can say no words. He can eat soft foods orally and drink from a bottle, but cannot eat regular textured foods, nor feed himself. He requires no ventilatory support and breathes unassisted. The resources obtained in settlement will assist this baby and his family in obtaining specialized health care to meet his challenging needs.
Result - $2,000,000
Medical Malpractice
A 51 year-old single woman who had a heart transplant on March 7, 2000, because of the defendants' negligent failure to evaluate, diagnose and treat developing congestive heart failure and ischemic cardiomyopathy. Before entering the hospital on February 10, 2000 near death in cardiogenic shock, the woman had been seen 12 times in the preceding nine months at local health center for persistent and progressive breathing problems. Her chest x-rays from three separate dates (December 22, 1999, January 28, 2000 and February 7, 2000) clearly showed an abnormally enlarged heart (cardiomegaly) and pulmonary edema. During her hospitalization, the woman experienced at least two cardiac arrests and was clinically dead, but was saved by aggressive cardiopulmonary resuscitation. She was urgently treated in the cardiac catheterization laboratory, and she was kept alive with an intra-aortic balloon pump.
She was transferred to a local hospital in critical condition on February 11, 2000. She remained critical in the Intensive Care Unit at the local hospital for four weeks. Cardiac stents were placed and she awaited a donor heart because she could not live without a new heart. The woman's heart transplant was accomplished on March 7, 2000, by a cardio-thoracic surgeon.
Result: - $1,500,000
Anoxic Brain Injury, Near Drowning, Premises liability
This near-drowning case involved a young woman who nearly drowned in an apartment swimming pool. She suffered severe anoxic brain injury resulting in persistent vegetative state. The tragic drowning happened on the last day of school and a few days after the season-opening of apartment swimming pool in Edmonds, Washington. While wading in the pool, the woman was unaware of abrupt slope change to the 9-foot deep end. The woman went underwater and started drowning within a matter of seconds. Her friends and others in the pool tried to help, but it was too late. After being pulled to the deck of the swimming pool, she was unconscious and not breathing. Chest compressions and CPR were started, but she was already severely brain damaged.
After filing a lawsuit, lawyers at the Perey Law Group learned that no safety float line (a rope with floats used to separate the shallow and deep areas of a swimming pool) was installed at about the 4 foot depth in the swimming pool on the day of the incident. A float line serves the purpose of a visual warning, a physical barrier, and an emergency hand hole. The float line was hanging uselessly on the pool enclosure fence. It was used during the winter to hold up the tarp covering the pool. Further, plaintiffs' lawyers discovered a photograph of the pool with the float line in place prior to the date of incident that had been used to advertise the apartment on defendant's website. The parties disputed whether a float line was required. Plaintiffs argued that a float line was required by national swimming pool industry standards and by WAC 246-260-090(11)(1991). Defendants' argued that the industry standards did not require a float line and that the Washington Administrative Code provision made the use of a float line optional because the pool had a bottom marker line (a tile line spanning the width of the pool).
Defendants asserted affirmative defenses of comparative fault on the part of the drowning victim, her father, her sister, and her stepmother. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment on that issue. King County Superior Court Judge Mary Roberts granted plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment and dismissed the affirma-tive defense regarding the comparative fault, but allowed the comparative fault of plaintiff and her stepmother to survive summary judgment and be presented to the jury. The parties settled this case through post-mediation negotiation the week before trial.
Result: - $1,150,000
Laboratory Negligence / Misdiagnosed Cancer
This case involved a woman who was only 24 years old when she underwent a radical hysterectomy six months after she was married to her high school sweetheart. The radical hysterectomy took her ability to carry her own children and was caused by the negligent interpretation of Pap smear slides that resulted in a delayed diagnosis of cervical cancer. Perey Law Group attorneys argued that if the defendant laboratories had interpreted her Pap smear slides correctly she would have easily been cured of her developing cervical cancer. She lost her ability to carry her own children because a radical hysterectomy was performed to "cure" her developing cervical cancer. The woman and her husband still wanted children so much that they were willing to endure the expense and rigors of a process called "gestational surrogacy" where her eggs were harvested (her ovaries were not removed during the hysterectomy) and combined with her husband's sperm to create embryos. The embryos were then implanted through in vitro fertilization (IVF) into a surrogate who contracted to carry and give birth to the baby or babies. Amazingly, this process allowed the couple to eventually have biological twins. The settlement won by the Perey Law Group lawyers made this possible.
Result: - $1,150,000
Motor Vehicle / Trucking Accident, Personal Injury
Medical Malpractice and Nursing Negligence
A retired United States Marine, was severely injured in a motor vehicle collision that occurred on August 30, 2004, in Spokane, Washington at the intersection of SR 395 and Wandermere Road. After being treated at Deaconess Medical Center, he was transferred to a nursing facility, in Spokane. The nursing care provided was below the standard of care because the nurse failed to monitor and report the deteriorating oxygen saturation levels. The settlement in this personal injury and wrongful death case was approved by the Spokane Superior Court.
Result: - $1,075,000
Medical Malpractice/ Wrongful Death
A 60 year-old man from Everett, Washington died after his diverticulitis (inflammation and infection of out-pouchings in the colon (diverticula)) and bowel perforation and abscess went under-treated while at the defendant skilled nursing facility. The failure of the doctors and nurses to recognize and treat the worsening diverticulitis caused the decedent to suffer peritonitis and sepsis. He had multi-organ system failure and could not be removed from the ventilator. His condition worsened and he died after 15 days after enduring indescribable pain and suffering. If the doctors had performed a CT scan, the abscess and perforation would have been detected and he would have had surgery and most probably survived. The settlement was successfully won by Perey Law Group lawyers for the man's loving wife.
Result: - $1,050,000
Trucking "Wheel-off" Accident/ Wrongful Death
A 350 pound wheel and tire dislodged from defendants tractor-trailer, crossed into oncoming traffic and crashed through the window of the client's Toyota, near Bremerton, Washington, in Kitsap County. The decedent was on her cell phone speaking to her daughter when the accident occurred. The wheel and tire collided directly with the woman's head causing massive injuries and death within minutes of impact at the age of 48 years. She left behind a husband and adult daughter.
Perey Law Group attorneys successfully proved that one of the 10 lugbolts on the wheel failed because they were improperly installed or improperly maintained. The Perey Law Group's expert metallurgist opined that bolt #1 failed first and placed added stress in a "cyclical" pattern on the other bolts. As the wheel turned around, this caused the lugbolts to oscillate (wobble) back and forth. Eventually, this caused each of the bolts to fail and shear. This case was settled for the insurance policy limits.
Result: - $1,000,000
Motor Vehicle / Wrongful Death
A 56-year-old who was confined to a wheelchair and had limited use of his hands and arms secondary to diabetes died from a fall in a cabulance ( handicap equipped van used to transport patients). The man required kidney dialysis three times per week and he was transported by cabulance to his dialysis appointments. He was picked up for transport to his dialysis treatment by a Pacific Cabulance driver. The driver, Kelly Fee, loaded the man and his wheelchair into the cabulance, but failed to secure the straps to hold his wheelchair in place. During the trip, the wheelchair tipped over and the man struck his head, suffering a subdural hematoma. At the kidney center, it was standard procedure to give a dose of heparin, an anticoagulant (blood thinner), during dialysis. Due to the head injury, bleeding in the brain occurred, aggravated by the anticoagulant that was needed for dialysis. He was taken to the hospital where diagnostic brain CT scans were completed and an extensive hemorrhage in his brain was illuminated, along with a cephalohematoma (collection of blood outside the skull; evidence of direct trauma to his head). There was also significant hydrocephalus (fluid/blood in the brain ventricles, which causes increased pressure that compromises brain tissue) and his neurological function and level of consciousness were deteriorating. The neurosurgeon discussed the grave prognosis to the man's children and the decision was made to attempt a ventriculostomy (placement of a drain in the brain ventricles to remove fluid and relieve pressure inside the skull). The surgery was performed, but, the drainage catheter became less effective and despite a second brain surgery, the client died at 56 years of age due to the brain injury.
During pre-suit investigation, Perey Law Group lawyers discovered that the cabulance driver was a registered sex offender who was not allowed to drive vulnerable adults in a cabulance. Ron Perey and Doug Weinmaster also discovered that the owner of the cabulance company requested that employees of the cabulance company lie and say that he (the owner) was the driver of the cabulance at the time of the fatal fall. Plaintiffs' lawyers obtained audio tape of the 9-1-1 call and testimony from former employees of the cabulance company that proved that Kelly Fee, the registered sex offender, was driving at the time of the fall. The case was settled and the owner and driver were successfully prosecuted by the Snohomish County Prosecutor.
Result: JURY VERDICT - $456,600
Hopkins v. Stevens Hospital
Medical Malpractice / Massive Overdose Medication to Premature Baby
Nolan Hopkins was born to Kathryn Hopkins at Stevens Hospital on August 25, 1999, about six weeks premature and weighing about 3½ pounds. Nolan developed apnea about five hours after birth. Apnea is when the baby stops breathing for short periods. Nolan's physician ordered that Nolan receive an infusion of Aminophylline (aka Theophylline), which stimulates respiration so Nolan would breath normally. Unfortunately, Stevens Hospital staff gave Nolan ten (10) times the amount of Aminophylline ordered by his doctor. Aminophylline is a highly toxic and potentially lethal drug and the blood serum level must be closely monitored to keep the drug within the therapeutic range of 6 to 13 (micrograms per milliliter). Within hours of the commencement of the Aminophylline, Nolan became fussy and agitated, and began grunting and flaring his nostrils. His blood serum level of Aminophylline was measured and found to be 77 and on recheck was 91.8. Nolan had been given a toxic overdose of Aminophylline. His breathing became labored and he developed pulmonary edema and respiratory distress. The hospital called the Poison Control Center to find out what to do. No one at Stevens Hospital had ever encountered a baby with such a massive overdose of Aminophylline or such high blood serum levels. Nolan was intubated and placed on mechanical ventilation to breath and was emergently transferred to Children's Hospital in Seattle.
The concentration of Aminophylline in his blood had risen to 136 (a lethal level) upon arriving at Children's Hospital. He received multiple blood volume exchange transfusions to cleanse the Aminophylline from his blood. It took five days for the Aminophylline levels in his blood to return to the therapeutic range. Nolan suffered two head bleeds (intraventricular hemorrhages) and hydrocephalus. Nolan spent about six weeks at Children's Hospital and Northwest Hospital, and underwent five neurosurgical procedures (brain surgeries) to place drains to remove the blood and excess fluids from the ventricles of his brain. The drains alleviated the swelling and Nolan survived due to excellent care received at the hospitals. He now has a permanent ventriculoperitoneal shunt (a drain from his brain to his abdominal area) to drain fluid from his brain in order to prevent the future development of hydrocephalus.
Initially, Nolan's doctors felt that he would be severely brain damaged. However, due to prompt and excellent medical care at Children's Hospital, Nolan is now 3½ years old and doing very well. He is considered normal, though he has been diagnosed as having "mild diffuse encephalopathy" from the hydrocephalus. How that will manifest itself during Nolan's lifetime is not known nor predictable with any medical certainty.
Stevens Hospital denied that it was negligent and asserted that it did not give Nolan a massive overdose of Aminophylline. However, after reviewing several declarations from plaintiffs' medical experts and plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, Judge Gerald Knight determined that there was an overdose and Stevens Hospital was negligent as a matter of law for giving a massive overdose of Aminophylline, and granted plaintiffs a summary judgment on that issue on September 21, 2001. The defense acknowledged the overdose of Aminophylline for the first time on the day of trial and the judge permitted Stevens Hospital to portray itself as apologetic for the incident, but denying any damages to Nolan. Stevens Hospital blamed Nolan's brain hemorrhage, hospitalization surgeries and intraventricular shunt on everything except the Aminophylline overdose: a patent ductus arteriosis, intrauterine growth retardation; utero-placental insufficiency; late fetal heart rate decelerations; prematurity; in-utero hemorrhage; neonatal hemorrhage not caused by the Aminophylline overdose; silent hemorrhage; hemorrhage second to prematurity; pre-eclampsia; smoking; congenital heart disease; too small (1670 grams); too young (33.5 weeks); and infarcts to placenta. The issues for the jury were twofold: which of Nolan's injuries were caused by the overdose of Aminophylline and how much money to award to Nolan and to his mother, Kathryn Hopkins. Stevens Hospital claimed that the overdose did not cause significant problems and that Nolan's problems were due solely to his prematurity and other "possibilities."
No one from Stevens Hospital ever contacted Kathryn Hopkins to explain how Nolan was overdosed with Aminophylline on August 25, 1999, or to apologize. Nor did anyone at Stevens Hospital ever offer to pay any of the expenses related to the overdose. Nor did anyone from Stevens ever assure her that steps had been taken so that this type of tragedy would not occur in the future. No one came to court from Stevens Hospital to testify about an overdose that almost killed Nolan. Stevens Hospital did not notify any regulatory authorities about the overdose and there was no investigation of Stevens Hospital's error by federal or state authorities. However, Kathryn Hopkins and her family got to tell Nolan's story to the jury and the jury responded by awarding $456,600 in damages against Stevens Hospital.
This case went to trial on April 7, 2003 before Judge Charles S. French in Snohomish County and on April 16, 2003, the jury of twelve persons returned a verdict for $456,600 to Nolan and his mother, Kathryn Hopkins due to Stevens Hospital negligent overdose of Aminophylline. The verdict was apportioned by the jury as follows: $250,000 to Nolan Hopkins for non-economic (general) damages; $150,000 to Kathryn Hopkins for non-economic (general) damages; and $56,600 for economic damages (past and future medical expenses).
Result: - $400,000
Naturopathic Negligence
Asthma, Wrongful Death
A 16 year-old who died of an acute asthma attack within two hours of treating with a naturopathic physician who was her primary care provider. On the morning of July 25, 2001, Jane Doe felt poorly and experienced symptoms of asthma. She woke at about 11:30 a.m. and used her inhaler and nebulizer, but her symptoms did not improve. Mother Doe realized that her daughters' condition was urgent enough to call defendant Doe Naturopathic Clinic for advice and treatment, but did not believe the condition was life-threatening. Mother Doe called and got an answering machine so she left a message stating that this was an urgent situation and she needed to be called back right away. Minutes later, while Mother Doe was looking for telephone numbers of other health care providers, Doe Naturopath's 21-year-old receptionist, returned the telephone call and told her to bring her daughter in right away so that Doe Naturopath would "fit her in" to her schedule. Defendants contended that they told Mother Doe to go directly to the emergency room, and that they only agreed to treat Jane Doe for acute asthma after she and her mother refused to seek traditional medical care.
Mother Doe and Jane Doe arrived at the Doe Naturopathic Clinic at about 3:00 p.m. on July 25, 2001. Instead of seeing Dr. Doe Naturopath, the mother and daughter were directed to the care of a licensed acupuncturist, defendant Doe Acupuncturist, who began an acupuncture treatment for acute asthma. Doe acupuncturist listened to Jane Doe's breathing "from about a foot-and-a-half away," and he could hear "rumbling" in the chest and "wheezing." The acupuncturist documented his assessment as "Wind Heat," and applied acupuncture needles to "meridian points," which were meant to improve Jane Doe's lung function.
Twenty-minutes into the acupuncture treatment, the treatment was interrupted because the naturopathic physician came into the examination room to treat Jane Doe's acute asthma. Defendant Doe naturopathic physician took a very limited history, did not adequately examine Jane Doe, but did chart that she was having "an acute asthma attack." Instead, of useful treatment, Doe Naturopath gave Jane Doe an IM (intramuscular injection) of vitamin B-12, and sold her a liquid "asthma tincture" medication of herbs, including "Ma-Huang" (a pseudoephedrine), which the patient took in her office. The defendant naturopathic physician charted that Jane Doe should go to the "ER if still problematic." However, all of the defendants' chart notes were suspected of being altered after the patient's death.
With a false sense of security gained from the defendants' care and advice, Mother Doe drove her daughter back to their home, assuming she would get better over time as the naturopathic physician told them. But, by 5:20 p.m., Jane Doe's condition was not improving so her father, who was now home from work, called Group Health Hospital and was told that he could take his daughter to Group Health Hospital in Redmond, which was over a 30-minute drive away or he could call Evergreen Hospital, which was closer to their home. Father Doe called Evergreen Hospital and was told that he could bring his daughter to an urgent care facility that was even closer because it was between his home and Evergreen Hospital. At that time, no one realized Jane Doe was in a life-threatening situation, so her father drove her to the urgent care clinic for treatment of her acute asthma.
As Father Doe drove his daughter to the Urgent Care Clinic, she continued having trouble breathing. As he was almost to the parking lot entrance of the urgent care clinic, she lost consciousness. Frantically, Father Doe took his daughter inside the Urgent Care Clinic where emergency resuscitative efforts were provided but Jane Doe could not be revived and she died at about 6:00 p.m. An autopsy determined that Jane Doe died of "status asthmaticus" (acute asthma non-responsive to conventional treatment).
Result: - $250,000
Medical Malpractice / DVT
In this medical negligence case a saphenous vein thrombus that developed in our client's body following a hernia repair was allowed to propagate into a deep vein thrombosis (DVT), destroying the venous valves in his left leg, leaving him with chronic venous valvular insufficiency and a lifetime disability. Fortunately, he avoided death due to a pulmonary embolism, but he is left with a lifetime of impaired use of his leg, discomfort and fear. He will require a lifetime of medical care and continuous surveillance of his circulatory system.
Result: - (Confidential Amount)
Foreign Object Left in Body Cavity
A "stone cone" medical device is intended to be used endoscopically to trap and remove calculi and other foreign objects from the urinary tract during kidney stone surgery. The device broke during the procedure leaving a foreign body inside the body of Perey Law Group's client. The case was settled for a confidential amount.
Result: - (Confidential Amount)
Delayed Diagnosis of Cancer by Oral Surgeon Leading to Wrongful Death
A woman from central Washington died due to metastatic squamous cell carcinoma which had its primary origin in her tongue. The tongue cancer began in 1995, as a small, white lesion on her tongue, which her oral surgeon, over the course of five years, chose to watch instead of biopsy and remove. As a result of the oral surgeon's failure to properly diagnose the squamous cell carcinoma (tongue cancer), the Perey Law Group client died in 2004. A wrongful death lawsuit was filed arguing it is the mandatory standard of care for an unexplained white patch in the oral cavity to be biopsied because they are often pre-malignant. The defense argued that the statute of limitations elapsed on the survivorship claim because the lawsuit was more than three years after the last treatment by the oral surgeon. We successful argued that under the survival statute, RCW 4.20.040,.060, and the wrongful death statue, RCW 4.20.010-.020, the woman's husband and family could recover the amount damages for her personal injury resulting in death, and recover her post-death damages.
Result: Settlement before trial.
Public Swimming Pool Drowning
This case involved a tragic drowning of a 26 year-old woman who was taking swimming lessons in the Tukwila City Pool to overcome her fear of the water prior to departing for her honeymoon that was scheduled 3 months later. Candice Green suffered severe anoxic brain injury when she drowned which caused her death. Candice's swimming instructor allowed her to remain in the deep end of the pool and the instructor left the pool deck area without notifying the on-duty lifeguard of Candice's presence. The Tukwila Pool Operations Manual and the American Red Cross (certifying agency for lifeguards) specifically state that an instructor should never leave a class unattended and it is the lifeguard's responsibility to guard, protect and save lives. The single on-duty lifeguard was sitting in a portable, non-elevated chair on the pool deck nearest to the pool wall where Candice was found. The on-duty lifeguard was unaware of Candice's presence in the deep end until a lap swimmer saw her body at the bottom of the pool. According to universal lifeguarding techniques adopted by the Tukwila Pool, the on-duty lifeguard should have scanned the entire pool once every 10 seconds and made contact with any victim in 20 seconds (the "10/20 rule"), and any blind spots should have been eliminated by adjusting body position or cruising the deck. Because these policies were not followed, the Tukwila Pool lifeguard never saw Candice in the pool before being alerted by the lap swimmer. This case was settled prior to trial.
