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| $21 Million Awarded for 'Wrongful Birth' |
| 2007-07-24 |
| In what is being called a "wrongful birth" case, a jury awarded more than $21 million Monday to a couple who claimed a doctor misdiagnosed a severe birth defect in their son, leading them to have a second child with similar problems. But because the doctor works for the University of South Florida, the family will have to persuade the Legislature to award most of the money. State law limits negligence claims against government agencies at $200,000. Daniel and Amara Estrada, whose two young sons aren't able to communicate and need constant care, sought at least enough money to care for the second child, 2-year-old Caleb. "This is a severely impaired child who will need a great deal of care for the rest of his life," said Christian Searcy, one of the attorneys who tried the case. He called the award "conservative but fair." The couple claimed that Dr. Boris Kousseff failed to diagnose their first son's genetic disorder, called Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, which is the inability to correctly produce or synthesize cholesterol, after his 2002 birth. Had the disorder been correctly diagnosed, a test would have indicated whether the couple's second child also was afflicted and they would have terminated the pregnancy, according to the lawsuit. Instead, Kousseff, a specialist in genetic disorders, told them they should be able to have normal children in the future. The jury decided that Kousseff was 90 percent negligent and that an Orlando doctor not named in the lawsuit was 10 percent at fault. Searcy said he would push state lawmakers to pass a bill awarding the Estradas money over the $200,000 cap. "I believe that this case is so powerful and this tragedy was so preventable and is so poignant, that it is the kind of case that should rise above the fray and rise above party politics," Searcy said. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #6 This one is ugly, and far beyond mere dietary adjustments, based on a quick search. SLO Foundation Pure Mendelian recessive, so if one child is born with it, the odds are one in four that any subsequent child will also suffer, and 50% that it will be a carrier, as are both parents. It's apparently one of the most common autosomal recessive disorders that I'd never heard of, with an estimated one in 20,000 occurrence in the West. Mental retardation with multiple birth defects, failure to thrive, and unlikelihood of ever achieving independent living as adults and, according to an study last year in the American Journal of Medical Genetics (entitled, amusingly, "DHCR7 mutation carrier rates and prevalence of the RSH/Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome: where are the patients?") is likely a cause of a great many miscarriages and early infant deaths. The cause -- inability to produce cholesterol -- was only discovered in 1993, with a lab test and DNA test following thereafter. It sounds like Professor Dr. Kousseff misdiagnosed the first child. Fair enough -- it took a small team of doctors three plus years to figure out the cause of my chronic fatigue because it wasn't any of the things they're accustomed to looking for... and another year to conclude that the Hail Mary treatment prescribed not only works but is critical, again because it's not something anyone was accustomed to consider. I understand the frustration, anguish and increasing desperation that led the parents to sue, but unfortunately they got caught in temporal reality. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-07-24 21:09 |
| #5 which is the inability to correctly produce or synthesize cholesterol, after his 2002 birth I'm no doctor, but this doesn't seem (at least to me) to be as "severe" a birth defect as the AP scare lines would indicate. Isn't their some form (for children) of Plavix or something, or is that too simple? Even with that, I can't imagine this is that bad a disease to 'monitor' compared to other severe birth defects. I'd assume that it's a matter of watching his/her diet and keeping some drugs on hand, not exactly worth $21 million. Kousseff, a specialist in genetic disorders, told them they should be able to have normal children in the future. If that's (literally) what he said, that's probably completely true. If you take it literally, he's just saying it's very possible they could have a second child that's "normal." Of course, that also means there's a chance the 2nd child has the same defect too. I feel for them as parents, but good grief, this free-wheelin' gravy train has gotta stop somewhere. |
| Posted by: BA 2007-07-24 13:46 |
| #4 And people wonder why medical costs have gone through the roof. Its lawsuits liek this and the threat of them that force "defensive medicine" (which is costly as wasteful), and drive up the cost of medical treatment for everyone. Not to mention driving good people away from the field |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-07-24 11:27 |
| #3 Searcy said he would push state lawmakers to pass a bill awarding the Estradas money over the $200,000 cap Look for a bigger payout for your work? That's why the cap. The 'people' got tired of torte lawyers who played for the payoff. Think you can bribe enough state legislatives? Wouldn't that be a kick-back? Not that it should bother a lawyer. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-07-24 10:08 |
| #2 Would their HMO pay for the second opinion? |
| Posted by: gromky 2007-07-24 07:33 |
| #1 If you've got an toddler with SLOS like symptoms, birth defects, constant care, etc, something tells me the parents share some type of responsibility in finding out what the problem is, ie, getting a second or third opinion, before having a second child. Hey Amara, ya think we outta do this again do ya? Yea Danny, no pesos for the first one, no diagnosis, Christian says "its a ticket to ride and we'll be millionaires!" |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2007-07-24 06:31 |