Page 26 - Verdicts and Settlements Hall of Fame: Medical Malpractice

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
VERDICT & SETTLEMENTS
HALL OF FAME

#19
cultured. In short, Jake was suffering from a fungal infection in his
brain. The infection caused abscesses of his brain, paralysis of the

left side of his body, seizures and two strokes. After being hospital- Case: Brower v. Schneider
ized for nearly 12 weeks, Jake was discharged in mid-March but the
infection persisted. Jake underwent 45 neurological procedures and Attorney: homas A. Moore

he suffers permanent damage of his brain.
Firm: Kramer, Dillof, Livingston & Moore

In a trial that last three days before Judge Peter J. O’Donoghue in Verdict:
$13,300,000
Queens Supreme Court in Queens County, the jury awarded Jake’s
family $13,300,000. “Jake’s brain surgery went unfortunately wrong
and he is left with signiicant deicits,” said Thomas A. Moore, the
By Phil Albinus
attorney who represented the boy and his parents Lisa and John
Brower.
After surgery to remove a cysts from his brain, ive year old Jake

Brower’s recovery in Long Island Jewish Medical Center was any- But the story does not end with the verdict. According to Moore,
thing but routine. The boy suffered a fever, stiffness in his neck, Jake’s parent’s pursued stem cell therapy in the Dominican Repub-
vomiting and photophobia -- or a sensitivity to light. A week later he lic and the results have been remarkable. “It was incredible the

was readmitted to the hospital and was examined by a new neurolo- difference I could see in Jake before and after. The parents were
gist who diagnosed that the youngster was suffering from aseptic ecstatic,” said Moore, who noted the controversy surrounding stem
meningitis. Steroids were prescribed. A week later, Jake developed cell therapy. “And they did it against many people’s advice so they

progressive paralysis on the left side of his body. The next day he felt vindicated. It was so incredible to see the progress that was
suffered seizures and a stroke. He was summarily assigned to the evident right away in Jake.”
ICU but his condition did not improve. On December 24, 2003 - 22

days after his irst surgery -- he suffered a second stroke.
Moore said that he is impressed with stem cell’s potential for those
suffering brain injuries. “I am not sure that it works for everybody
During exploratory surgery, doctors found a patch that was but it worked for Jake.”

implanted to seal a portion of the brain and tests found that it was

#20
suffered from an array of problems including short-term memory
loss that’s ended in his medical career.

Case:
A state Supreme Court jury in the Bronx sided with Michalski, Michalski v. Monteiore Medical Center
inding the hospital departed from an accepted standard of medical
care, awarding him $12.2 million.
Attorney: Steven E. North; and Laurence M. Deutsch

Firm: North & Deutsch LLP
Laurence M. Deutsch, of North and Michalski LLP who argued
the case in court, said two factors were particularly compelling: the Verdict: 12,192,000

existence of two sets of medical records that disagreed with each
other and Michaelski, a bright, energetic, highly regarded physician,
By Len Maniace
who had been laid low by the lack of timely treatment.

When it comes to medical malpractice cases, in the public’s mind, “They tried to claim it was an innocent rewrite, but the times were
physicians sit at the defendant’s table. Not always, though.
discrepant and one of them was not in their favor,” Deutsch said

referring to hospital oficials’ explanation for the two sets of records.
Dr. Stephen Michalski, a surgeon in his early 50s, was suffering
chest pain when he walked into the emergency department at Jack The unfavorable medical document indicated that Michalski

D. Weiler Hospital of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the needed to wait critical minutes longer for the care he needed, a
Bronx. Things went terribly wrong that day, April 22, 2007. Michal- scenario that better its the patient’s deterioration, the attorney said.
ski’s body stiffened, his ists clinched and his arms bent, a condi-

tion known as a decorticate posture which suggests brain damage, “If the irst time you as a doctor saw him he was in this posture,
according to the lawsuit Michalski iled against Monteiore Medical that means he was unattended for some minutes and that he already
Center, the hospital’s parent corporation.
had suffered cardiac arrest,” Deutsch said.

In his suit, Michalski charged he was not continuously observed Michalski’s award was reduced due to a conidential agreement
at the emergency room, the attending nurse left him briely and that that had set a cap and a bottom payout.

his heart was not monitored. As a result, Michalski contended, he

24 November 2014