Miami Injury Lawyer Blawg

Florida Medical Malpractice Claims are subject to a cap on damages. Republican's, like Rick Santorum favor caps on damages, so long as they do not effect him or his family.

In the ultimate act of hypocrisy, Rick Santorum follows the Republican mantra that he will push to limit payments to victims in medical malpractice lawsuits, which he of course blames for unnecessarily driving up health-care costs. However, what is good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander. When Rick Santorum's wife, Karen Santorum filed a Medical Malpractice lawsuit, Santorum testified in support of his wife who sought $500,000, twice the cap in his 1994 legislative proposal.

Karen Santorum claimed that David Dolberg, a chiropractor, performed a spinal ma­nipu­la­tion, that caused a herniated disk in her spine, which was surgically removed a week later. Santorum claimed she was left with a permanent back injury that would result in a lifetime of pain medication and restricted mobility.

Of course, the Santorums sought to seal the records in the lawsuit against Dolberg and the center where he worked, saying her husband's role as a senator would draw attention to the case and violate his wife's privacy. The court declined to do so.

As reported in The Washington Post, the Santorums both testified to the non-economic losses she and their family suffered. Santorum told the Fairfax County Circuit Court jury that his wife wasn't able to do some of the tasks she enjoyed as a mother. He said the pain made her unable to exercise and stay fit, and now she "does not have the confidence" to help him with public events on his campaigns.

"We have to go out and do a lot of public things," Rick Santorum said. "She wants to look nice, so it's really difficult."

For the ultimate slap in the fact, Rick Santorum told reporters that he thought the $250,000 cap on malpractice awards in his 1994 legislative proposal might be too low, given the injury his wife had suffered.

Like all Medical Malpractice Lawyers, Karen Santorum's attorney, Heather Heidelbaugh, stressed to the jury that her client suffered "severe and permanent neurologic damage" and this trial was "their only opportunity for justice." The jury wouldn't be around, she said, "10 years from now, when she is 49 years old and can't get out of bed . . . can't play with her sons."

The court returned a verdict of $350,000, which was reduced to $175,000.

Santorum, whose wife has been at his side often as he has campaigned for president over the past year, said in the fall that he was generally in favor of a cap on awarding money for pain and suffering, fearing that juries could be swayed by sympathy and award excess amounts for intangible, non-economic damages. In 2003, he proposed capping pain and suffering awards at $250,000 and allowing larger awards when more than one doctor or medical facility is involved in a malpractice case.

Continue reading "Rick Santorum Favors Caps On Medical Malpractice Damages-But Not For His Family" »

Shaniah Rolle, was the victim of Medical Malpractice when she received an expired vaccine that led to the amputation of her arms and legs.

This unfortunate incident dates back to 1998, when Shaniah's mother, Queen Seriah Azulla Dabrio, took Shaniah to the Unviversity of Miami's medical school's pediatric unit for a checkup. Shaniah had her spleen removed when she was a newborn, and as a result a medical assistant injected Shaniah with a special vaccination designed to protect against infection for people without spleens. Unfortunately, the vaccine had expired five months earlier.

Eight months after receiving the injection Shaniah became seriously ill and was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. She had a bacterial infection throughout her body that caused blood clots to form in her arms and legs. The infection led to gangrene in her limbs, and doctors amputated her arms and legs above the joints.

Incredibly enough the lawsuit was filed 10 years ago, and The University of Miami denied responsibility even though the expired vaccine led to the very infection it was to protect against

UM's attorneys, Christopher Knight of Miami and John Hall of Atlanta, argued that Shaniah would have contracted her illness despite being given the expired vaccine because her mother failed to give Shaniah enough medication to help stave off the infection.

The Miami-Dade jury returned a $12.6 Million verdict against the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine. However, the amount Shaniah will receive will be cut almost in half because jurors deemed her mother was 40 percent at fault.

Continue reading "$12.6 Million Medical Malpractice Jury Verdict For Teen" »

Strokes, and the failure to timely recognize, diagnose and treat are on the rise. Approximately 795,000 people suffer a stroke each year in the United States. More than half of those affected will suffer from arm paralysis, which is the inability of a muscle or group of muscles to move voluntarily. When messages from the brain to the muscles don't work properly due to a stroke, a limb becomes paralyzed or develops a condition called spasticity.

As a Stroke Malpractice Lawyer I have witnessed too many individuals suffer with permanent injuries following a stroke. To that end, stroke is the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States.

As reported by the Chicago News Cooperative, Dr. Julius Dewald is trying to meld medicine, science and engineering in a path-breaking way to better understand such impairment and how robotic therapy might help people who have had strokes perform the 1,001 little movements we take for granted.

Dr. Dewald is chairman of the department of physical therapy and human movement sciences at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Dewald, and his 25-person team are trying to determine if electromechanical devices can more precisely measure impairment and accelerate what is now a belated, long and expensive rehabilitation.

If the damage is on the left side of the brain, the right arm is affected, and with it the ability to control a joint at a time. Even if patients can move the arm somewhat, they won't have the independent control of joints in the elbow, wrist and fingers.

Over time, the project team hopes the robot can help patients better extend their arm -- not completely, but more than they can now. Then the robot can add weight, making the limb heavier, so the patient can mirror a situation akin to living without the robot.

Continue reading "Robots Help Doctors Treat Stroke Patients" »

In a tragic work accident, William "Bill" Elliott, a Pompano Beach firefighter, died after falling nearly 100 feet from the top of a ladder truck during a training exercise.

Elliott, who was 50, had been with the fire department since 1989, and as reported by the Sun Sentinel, Elliott had no wife or children.

An investigation is under way.

Training can be more dangerous than firefighting.

"In order to do this type of work, which is very dangerous, you have to train a lot on your aerial units because that's risky stuff to begin with," Fire Rescue Chief Harry Small explained. "Training is a part of our lives and there's a number of firefighter fatalities annually in the United States from training exercises. It's sad but true."

"We, at this time, have no idea what happened,"Small said. "He did fall approximately 100 feet from the top of the ladder during a training exercise and we'll be investigating that."

Continue reading "Pompano Beach Firefighter DIes After Fall From Ladder" »