Page 18 - Verdicts and Settlements Hall of Fame: Medical Malpractice

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
VERDICT & SETTLEMENTS
HALL OF FAME

#10

Case:
Busone v. McCarthy

Attorney: Stephen R. Cofey

Attorney: Robert E. Harris

Firm: O’Connell & Aronowitz and Robert E. Harris, Esq.

Date:
10/8/2009

Verdict: $43,500,000

By Len Maniace

A young woman who suffered brain damage during her birth

requiring her to use a wheelchair was awarded $43.5 million in dam-
ages by a state Supreme Court jury in Saratoga County.

The Oct. 8, 2009 award was believed to be the largest personal
injury verdict in New York’s Capital Region, according to a news
account the next day. The plaintiff, Tiffany Busone, was a 24-year-

old graduate of Arizona State University at the time of the verdict.

Busone was born July 15, 1984 at Bellevue Maternity Hospital in

Niskayuna, outside of Schenectady. Seven minutes before her birth,
monitoring equipment noted that Busone’s heartbeat had slowed. Neither member of the staff had suctioned or placed a breathing
Once born, she was found to have the umbilical cord wrapped around tube into a patient below the vocal cords, the attorney’s contended.
her neck.

Busone suffers from cerebral palsy and relies on a wheelchair,
Her mother, J. Tracy Busone, initially iled the malpractice suit which she operates using a joystick. She also has limited speech
contending that her daughter was deprived of oxygen for about 27 and uses special equipment to synthesize speech.

minutes. The irst lack
of oxygen occurred
Despite her physical problems, Busone
when the umbilical cord THE OCT. 8, 2009 AWARD WAS BELIEVED TO has above average intelligence and attend-

wrapped around the ed regular schools. In addition to gradu-
baby’s neck 10 minutes BE THE LARGEST PERSONAL INJURY VERDICT IN ating from Arizona State University, she
prior to her delivery, participates in sports, such as wheelchair
NEW YORK’S CAPITAL REGION, ACCORDING
she charged.
soccer, and she swims by using upper-arm
lotation devices.
TO A NEWS ACCOUNT THE NEXT DAY
The lack of oxygen

continued after birth,
Tiffany is expected to need home
according to the suit,
health care to provide help with personal
due to the presence of meconium, or fetal stool, in amniotic luid hygiene, eating, drinking and other daily activities for the rest of her

in the baby’s trachea. Expert medical care did not arrive until some life, according to the claim.
15 minutes had passed, the suit claimed.
The award covers $20 million for future residential-care, $15 mil-

lion in future pain and suffering, $6 million in past pain and suffering, The suit further charged that the hospital should have been pre-
$2 million in lost future earnings and $500,000 for future medical pared with better-trained staff. Tracy Busone had been listed in the
expenses.
hospital’s complex-case log after amniotic luid with heavy meconium

staining had been observed 17 hours before delivery.
The Busone family negotiated an undisclosed pretrial settlement
with the attending physician Dr. F. Theresa McCarthy and her practice A nurse and a physician’s assistant were present for the delivery,

before the case against the hospital went to trial. The hospital is neither of whom were adequately trained to clear Busone’s trachea,
responsible for the remainder of the $43.5 million award.
according to attorneys representing the family, Stephen R. Coffey of
O’Connell & Aronowitz in Albany and Robert Harris, also of Albany.

16 November 2014