By Lauren Lifke
Margot Gwin
Gwin had a routine spinal surgery in 2018 that ended in complications, including nerve damage that resulted in decreased mobility. She only recently reached a settlement, and she spoke in opposition of Senate Bill 176, which proposes capping attorney’s fees for medical malpractice lawsuits.
“I used to take care of people’s dogs, and now I can’t really,” Gwin said. “I’m basically relying on my children’s income right now.”
Dominique Dupont
Dupont’s daughter was injured during her birth 12 years ago, she said. She sustained a brain injury that resulted in multiple lifelong disabilities.
“She will never be independent,” Dupont said.
Her daughter’s case reached a settlement before the caps were introduced, and she received fair compensation, Dupont said.
“The justice that she received was just critical for her wellbeing and the wellbeing of my family,” Dupont said. “I’m here because I don’t want any other family to go through what I did and not receive fair compensation.”
Boyd Omer
Omer’s story also starts 12 years ago, when a routine gallbladder surgery resulted in complications. He received a payout from a medical malpractice lawsuit against the surgeon, he said, but because his lawsuit was subject to the medical malpractice monetary cap, he didn’t receive the compensation that he felt justified the damages. He spent a total of over 50 days in the hospital, he said, and he traveled to Texas for some treatments.
“I had to go to Dallas on my own expense,” Omer said. “It wasn’t done right to begin with.”
Omer’s wife is a nurse, and he has also testified for a nurse staffing bill.
John Yaeger
Yaeger was six months into his retirement from the Legislative Council Service in 2018 when he had a stroke. His wife, Robin Yaeger, recognized the signs and took him to the hospital right away, she said, where he underwent a surgery that left him partially paralyzed and unable to speak.
The couple didn’t know that doctors had made a mistake until much later, Robin Yaeger said, when a friend was helping her file for disability for John Yaeger.
“There was one sentence — in a two-inch stack of medical records — that had one sentence that said they deployed the mechanism in the wrong part of the brain,” Yaeger said.
They settled with a malpractice suit, but there was a cap.
“It’s not enough to cover all the therapies that he requires,” Yaeger said.
Some victims of medical malpractice are no longer with us. My husband, for example is dead. In 2017 the hospitalist at St. Vincent’s sent him home in an ambulance. The “treatment” he provided for my husband was medieval. If I had had the energy, I might have sued. However, I understand you probably won’t win. The medical board is ever ready with their “it was a misunderstanding between doctor and patient” comment.
The current medical malpractice act cap does not include medical or medically related expenses. Those expenses are fully covered without limitation unless a patient chooses to take a lump sum, thus testimony claiming that someone was not covered for all of their medical or medically related expenses is misleading. Those expenses have always been uncapped.