Page 8 - Verdicts and Settlements Hall of Fame: Medical Malpractice

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
VERDICT & SETTLEMENTS
HALL OF FAME

#3

Case:
Martin v. N.Y.C.H. & H. Corp.

Attorney: homas A. Moore

Firm: Kramer, Dillof, Livingston, & Moore

Date: 5/25/2012

Verdict:
$121,000,000

By Phil Albinus

In the short life of Jacqueline Martin, a misdiagnosis curtailed

the life and abilities of a young mother but it gave a renewed sense
of purpose for her own mother. Melvina Pope, Jacqueline’s mother,
was, in the words of attorney Thomas A. Moore, a “irebrand for her

daughter” after a catastrophic allergic reaction to an antiseizure
medication lead to Jacqueline’s quadriplegia and brain damage.

It should not have happened to the then-37 year-old mother of
two with a mild seizure disorder. On February 18, 2004, Jacqueline
was taken to the Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center

in Brooklyn with swollen eyes, face and throat. This condition was
due to an allergic reaction to Dilantin, the anti-seizure medication out these side effects, said Moore. “They didn’t take her off if it in
prescribed by her neurologist, Dr. Michael Pitem. Her conditions time and she developed the Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. That was
worsened horribly. A few days later, Jacqueline was transferred to the irst part of the malpractice. Then the treatment, both at Kings

Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn where she was diagnosed County and eventually at Jacobi was what destroyed her. In monitor-
with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, a hypersensitive condition where the ing her condition, they did not notice [that] she was going downhill
skin is practically burning off of the body. During her treatment, she in terms of respiratory depression. The monitor was showing this

suffered cardiac arrest
and nobody was picking it up.”
and brain damage.
Jacqueline soon went into cardiac arrest THE 26-DAY TRIAL SAW THE JURY

and suffered brain damage before hospital Enter Melvina Pope,
staff were able to revive her. The damage Jacqueline’s mother.
DELIVER A 6-0 VERDICT WITH
was profound. “She has these disigurements According to Moore, she
ONE DAY OF DELIBERATION.
and the worse part of she is oxygen-deprived had just moved to Penn-
brain damage is that she needs total care for sylvania and was still
the rest of her life,” said Moore. “This is leav-
working in New York as

ing two beautiful children who cannot interact with their mother.”
a nurse’s aide. After the initial care, Jacqueline was in a rehabilita-
tion center and her mother would spend four to ive hours each day
The 26-day trial saw the jury deliver a 6-0 verdict with one day with her daughter, work an eight-hour nursing shift, travel home

of deliberation.
to Bucks County, get three hours sleep and start the same routine
the next day. “It was edifying dedication,” said Moore, who added,
“I wasn’t surprised that they found for the plaintiff. I would have “This is something you would like to think parents would do but

been surprised if they didn’t,” said Moore. “Jackie went to the ER in you don’t often see.”
Brookdale, they got in touch with the private doctor, he didn’t come
in, she was showing signs of an allergic reaction and they didn’t take Sadly, this all could have been avoided if Jacqueline had been

her off the Dilantin. That was the bullet through her heart.”
taken off the anti-seizure medication and given a similar drug with-

6 November 2014