Case Results

Jason Campbell

On October 12, 1998 Jason Campbell a 20-year-old boy, was involved in a motor vehicle accident. He was taken to North Broward Medical Center by ambulance for treatment to the injuries he received. X-rays revealed that Jason Campbell required open-heart surgery for a tear in the aorta of his heart. There was a question in the films whether or not the location of the tear would require the doctors to use a cardiac-pulmonary bypass machine to correctly perform the repair. North Broward Medical Center did not have the machine and rather than transfer him to Broward General Medical Center where the surgery could be safely done the heart surgeon decided to attempt to perform the surgery at North Broward Medical Center. Unfortunately, complications arose during the middle of surgery for which the heart lung machine was required and since it was not available the surgery was not successful and Jason Campbell died.

On June 14, 2002 the jury awarded damages against the heart surgeon in the sum of $6,097,014.

Henalori McGee

In April of 1998 Henalori McGee a 48 year old mother of two was visiting Disney World with her husband. While in her hotel room she began to experience right abdominal pain radiating into her back. The pain was so bad that she called 911 and was taken by ambulance to Sand Lake Hospital for treatment in the emergency room.

Upon arrival to the emergency room a nurse evaluated Mrs. McGee and noted abnormal vital signs placing Mrs. McGee in severe distress. Despite these signs and symptoms Mrs. McGee was left to lay in the emergency room untreated for a half hour until she was seen by a physicians assistant who also noted Mrs. McGee in severe stress and ordered some urine and blood work. The physician assistant was of the opinion that Mrs. McGee was suffering from either gall bladder stones, kidney stones, or appendicitis so he failed to order any diagnostic imaging to determine the nature in extent of Mrs. McGee abdominal problem.

At 2:09 a.m. Mrs. McGee had blood drawn and the results were available at 2:15 a.m. The results from the blood work showed that Mrs. McGee was actually suffering from internal bleeding. However, none of the emergency room personnel bothered to check the results until 3:00 a.m. Even then the staff failed to attend to Mrs. McGee and she continued to lay in the emergency room without treatment until she was found to be in full cardiac arrest at 3:43 a.m. Even once Mrs. McGee was found to be in cardiac arrest there was a further delay by the emergency room physicians to treat Mrs. McGee and as a result she remained without any pulse or blood pressure for the first thirteen minutes of her arrest.

Eventually, the doctors were able to revive Mrs. McGee and stabilize her. Unfortunately, for Mrs. McGee it was not soon enough and she suffered irreparable brain damage leaving her in a complete vegetative state. She is presently confined to a wheelchair and unable to perform even the simplest activities of daily living. Despite her physical limitations Mrs. McGee is still fully aware of her situation and has become a prisoner trapped in her own body.

After a two-week trial the jury found that the actions of the emergency room doctor and staff demonstrated a reckless disregard for the health and life of Mrs. McGee and awarded Mrs. McGee $78,500,000.00. This is the largest verdict ever rendered for a single medical malpractice victim in the State of Florida.

Betty Silverman

On November 13, 1998 Betty Silverman was taken to the Oakwood Terrace Rehabilitation and Nursing Center to recover following an ankle and toe fracture. Doctors that had treated Betty’s fracture at the hospital placed orders in the nursing home chart that she needed follow up care with her podiatrist. When Betty’s doctor arrived to see her in the nursing home the doctor was denied access since she did not have privileges at that facility. Unfortunately Betty developed a blood clot at her fracture site, which began to travel painfully up her leg. If Betty’s doctor had been able to treat her, the clot would have been detected and fixed. However, since she was not, the clot progressed up her leg and into her lungs causing her death on November 18, 1998.

One of the nursing home resident’s rights is that a nursing home may not deny a resident access to their doctor. Based on this violation a jury found that the nursing home violated Betty Silverman’s rights and awarded her $856,836.026 for her medical bills and pain and suffering that she had to endure prior to her death.

Saddie McIntosh

Sadie McIntosh was admitted to the Pompano Rehabilitation Center as a short-term care patient following a joint replacement. The staff at the nursing home failed to provide proper treatment to Sadie and allowed her to develop a stage three decubitus ulcer on her lower back. Additionally, one day an aide was removing Sadie’s bedpan when she negligently ripped opened the surgical wound to Sadie’s hip and spilled the contents of the bedpan into the open wound. Rather then cleaning the wound or bringing it to someone’s attention the aide simply threw the sheets over Sadie and left her to lay there in her own waste. Sadie’s daughter later discovered the condition but by that time the wound had already become infected. The infection spread throughout Sadie’s body and ultimately caused her death. Sadie was survived by eight children and 144 grandchildren.

Her children brought suit against the facility for the care that was provided to Mrs. McIntosh. On June 6, 2002 the jury rendered its verdict in favor of Ms. McIntosh and awarded $2, 970,616.89 to her family.

Jose Gonzalez

Jose Gonzalez was a 55-year-old retiree who lived with his life companion in the garage apartment of Ms. Nury Suarez. On the morning of June 20, 1999 Mr. Gonzalez went to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. As he opened the kitchen cabinet to remove a coffee cup the entire cabinet became dislodged from the wall and struck Mr. Gonzalez on the head. The impact was so severe that it compressed five levels of Mr. Gonzalez’s spinal cord requiring a four level fusion and leaving Mr. Gonzalez as a quadriplegic.

Investigation revealed that the contractor Ms. Suarez hired to convert her garage into an apartment failed to properly install the kitchen cabinet. Instead of screwing the cabinet into the wall the handy man simply hung the kitchen cabinet on a hook in the wall, like one would hang a picture frame. Ms. Suarez failed to pull a permit for the work she had done, nor did she even check to see if the contractor she hired was licensed.

Suit was brought against Ms. Suarez for negligent hiring and a Jury returned a verdict against her on December 8, 2000 in the amount of $4,961, 018.

Grady McNeal

Grady McNeal was working at a construction site at the Portofino Tower in Miami Beach. Grady’s job was to direct a tower crane operator on the top of the building to the back of a flat bed truck located on the ground so that the crane could drop off concrete forms. As Grady was in the process of unhooking one of the concrete forms the crane operator drew up the crane before he was signaled to pulling the concrete slab with Grady on it up into the air and throwing Grady to the ground. As a result of the fall Grady suffered multiple fractures in his right ankle, which required a surgical fusion and bone graft.

After being offered $75,000.00 the McNeals decided to take there case to trial and were successful in obtaining a verdict in their favor in the amount of $401,000.00.

Michael Becker

On October 8, 1992 Michael Becker was driving eastbound on Atlantic Boulevard when a tractor-trailer owed by AAA Cooper transportation made an illegal left turn in front of Mr. Becker’s vehicle. Mr. Becker was unable to react in time and collided with the trailer. As a result of the severe impact Mr. Becker suffered three herniated disks, which required surgical repair. Unfortunately for Mr. Becker the initial back surgery failed requiring a second fusion. Tragically problems arose during the second surgery which resulted in partial paralysis in both of Michael’s hands preventing him from be able to return to work as an assistant horse trainer.

After a complex fight on the issue of Mr. Becker’s damages a jury returned a verdict in the amount of $3,737, 084.082.

Ronald Reed

Ronald Reed was traveling westbound on Sunrise Boulevard on his motorcycle on June 23, 1985. As Mr. Reed approached the Thunder Bird Swap Shop traffic from patrons heading into the drive-in theatre had backed up in the westbound curb lane. To avoid the stopped traffic Mr. Reed was traveling in the middle lane. As he approached the entrance to the Swap Shop a pick-up truck trying to gain admission to the theater property pulled in front of him. Unfortunately the pick up truck was not able to get a spot in line and blocked the entire middle lane, which Mr. Reed occupied. Mr. Reed was unable to maneuver his motorcycle and as a result slammed into the rear portion of the pick up truck.

After the impact Ronald suffered severe fractures to his wrists, hands, legs, pelvis, spine, jaw, and larynx. The severity of the fractures to his arms and legs prevented Ronald from ever walking again. Additionally the fracture of the larynx required the permanent use of a tracheal tube. Ronald has undergone seven operations on his hands, four throat operations and one operation on his legs. Additionally Ronald suffered irreversible brain damage leaving him confined to a wheel chair unable to speak. Discovery revealed that the drive-in theater company did not have enough space on the property to handle the volume of business that they received and that the entrance to the parking lot was improperly designed causing traffic to back up on Sunrise Boulevard. Further discovery revealed that the Swap Shop hired off duty police officers during the daytime to direct traffic to the flea market but did not hire the officers for the theater operation.

Based on these findings suit was brought against the Swap Shop. A jury found the Thunder Bird Theater to be negligent in its design and construction of the parking lot and in the manner they handled traffic flow for patrons of their property and awarded Mr. Reed $6,500,000.00 for his injuries.