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Date: July 28, 2008 Daily Business Review Case: Ruth Hudge v. Parkway Regional Medical Center Case no.: 2006-6698-CA-01, Miami-Dade Circuit Court. Description: Medical malpractice Filing date: April 5, 2006 Trial date: June 16-July 2, 2008 Judge: Circuit Judge Victoria Platzer Plaintiff attorneys: Jeremy Alters, Alters Boldt Brown Rash & Culmo, Miami, and Ira Leesfield, Leesfield Leighton & Partners, Miami. Defense attorneys: James Sawran, MacIntosh Sawran Peltz & Cartaya, Fort Lauderdale. Jury decision: $3.21 million Details: Ruth Hudge had a pacemaker implanted at Parkway Regional Medical Center on March 15, 2004, after complaining of chest pains. The complaint claimed a pacemaker wire tore a hole in her heart, which led to internal bleeding that caused a neuro-psychological brain injury and cardiac arrest. Hudge suffered from a cardiac tamponade, a disorder in which the sac encasing the heart fills with fluid and prevents the ventricles from pumping out oxygen-rich blood, increasing the risk of a cardiac arrest. Hudge, now 74, suffers memory loss and difficulties doing routine things around the house, Alters said. She is being cared for by her 81-year-old husband, Charles. Plaintiff case: Alters and Leesfield argued that physicians at Parkway failed to catch the tamponade problem in time, and that the doctors failed to treat the disorder properly after diagnosing it. Alters argued that hospital doctors who are not on staff are still responsible for their activities. Defense case: Sawran argued to the jury that the pacemaker procedure was by its nature dangerous and that Hudge's deteriorating condition was not due to negligence. On the contrary, Sawran argued, Parkway nurses saved Hudge's life. Outcome: The jury deliberated more than six hours before awarding the plaintiff almost $3.3 million, finding the hospital was not directly negligent but was an agent of Hudge's injuries. A settlement with three doctors also named as defendants in the case brought the total amount to almost $4 million, Alters said. A fourth doctor was dismissed as a defendant shortly after the lawsuit was filed. The jury's negligence assignments were 75 percent for Dr. Wayne Lipson and 25 percent for Dr. Ripp Smith. But the panel also found both were agents of the hospital, thereby shifting the full award to Parkway. Sawran noted the jury found no negligence on the part of Parkway directly, clearing the nursing and laboratory staffs of liability. The only finding was for vicarious liability. Comments: "This will affect many hospital cases to come," Alters predicted. "The jury found that the hospital was responsible for the doctors' negligence. Because the hospital held those doctors out as agents of theirs, the jury found those doctors responsible. Therefore the hospital was responsible for the two doctors who we ended up going to trial against." Sawran said, "The actions of the nurses were very appropriate, and it was actually their heroic efforts that saved the patient's life."
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