Florida Senate - 2011                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 322
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 347672                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                   Comm: WD            .                                
                  04/26/2011           .                                
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       The Committee on Rules (Flores) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 176 - 185
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 2. Lee Memorial Health System, formerly known as
    6  the Hospital Board of Directors of Lee County, is authorized and
    7  directed to appropriate from funds of Lee Memorial Health System
    8  not otherwise appropriated and to draw the following warrants as
    9  compensation for the medical malpractice committed against Aaron
   10  Edwards and Mitzi Roden:
   11         (1) The sum of $13,500,000, payable to the Guardianship of
   12  Aaron Edwards;
   13         (2) The sum of $1,000,000, payable to Mitzi Roden; and
   14         (3) The sum of $500,000, payable to Mark Edwards.
   15  
   16  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   17         And the title is amended as follows:
   18         Delete lines 12 - 120
   19  and insert:
   20         WHEREAS, Mitzi Roden and Mark Edward’s only child,
   21         Aaron Edwards, was born on September 5, 1997, at Lee
   22         Memorial Hospital, andWHEREAS, during Mitzi Roden’s
   23         pregnancy, Mitzi Roden and Mark Edwards attended
   24         childbirth classes through Lee Memorial Health System
   25         and learned of the potentially devastating effect that
   26         the administration of Pitocin to augment labor may
   27         have on a mother and her unborn child when not
   28         carefully and competently monitored, andWHEREAS, Mitzi
   29         Roden and Mark Edwards communicated directly to Nurse
   30         Midwife Patricia Hunsucker of Lee Memorial Health
   31         System of their desire to have a natural childbirth,
   32         andWHEREAS, Mitzi Roden enjoyed an uneventful full
   33         term pregnancy with Aaron Edwards, free from any
   34         complications, andWHEREAS, on September 5, 1997, at
   35         5:29 a.m., Mitzi Roden, at 41 and 5/7 weeks’ gestation
   36         awoke to find that her membranes had ruptured,
   37         andWHEREAS, when Mitzi Roden presented to the hospital
   38         on the morning of September 5, she was placed on a
   39         fetal monitoring machine that confirmed that Aaron
   40         Edwards was doing well and in very good condition,
   41         andWHEREAS, Mitzi Roden tolerated well a period of
   42         labor from 9 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., but failed to
   43         progress in her labor to the point of being in active
   44         labor. At that time, Nurse Midwife Patricia Hunsucker
   45         informed Mitzi Roden and Mark Edwards that she would
   46         administer Pitocin to Mitzi in an attempt to speed up
   47         the labor, but both Mitzi Roden and Mark Edwards
   48         strenuously objected to the administration of Pitocin
   49         because of their knowledge about the potentially
   50         devastating effects it can have on a mother and child,
   51         including fetal distress and even death. Mitzi Roden
   52         and Mark Edwards informed Nurse Midwife Patricia
   53         Hunsucker that they would rather undergo a cesarean
   54         section than be administered Pitocin, but in spite of
   55         their objections, Nurse Midwife Patricia Hunsucker
   56         ordered that a Pitocin drip be administered to Mitzi
   57         Roden at an initial does of 3 milliunits, to be
   58         increased by 3 milliunits every 30 minutes,
   59         andWHEREAS, there was universal agreement by the
   60         experts called to testify at the trial in this matter
   61         that the administration of Pitocin over the express
   62         objections of Mitzi Roden and Mark Edwards was a
   63         violation of the standard of care, andWHEREAS, for
   64         several hours during the afternoon of September 5,
   65         1997, the dosage of Pitocin was consistently increased
   66         and Mitzi Roden began to experience contractions
   67         closer than every 2 minutes at 4:50 p.m., and began to
   68         experience excessive uterine contractility shortly
   69         before 6 p.m., which should have been recognized by
   70         any reasonably competent obstetric care provider,
   71         andWHEREAS, in spite of Mitzi Roden’s excessive
   72         uterine contractility, the administration of Pitocin
   73         was inappropriately increased to 13 milliunits at 6:20
   74         p.m. by Labor and Delivery Nurse Beth Jencks, which
   75         was a deviation from the acceptable standard of care
   76         for obstetric health care providers because, in fact,
   77         it should have been discontinued, andWHEREAS,
   78         reasonable obstetric care required that Dr. Duvall,
   79         the obstetrician who was ultimately responsible for
   80         Mitzi Roden’s labor and delivery, be notified of Mitzi
   81         Roden’s excessive uterine contractility and that she
   82         was not adequately progressing in her labor, but the
   83         health care providers overseeing Mitzi Roden’s labor
   84         unreasonably failed to do so, andWHEREAS, in spite of
   85         Mitzi Roden’s excessive uterine contractility, the
   86         administration of Pitocin was increased to 14
   87         milliunits at 7:15 p.m., when reasonable obstetric
   88         practices required that it be discontinued, and a
   89         knowledgeable obstetric care provider should have
   90         known that the continued use of Pitocin in the face of
   91         excessive uterine contractility posed an unreasonable
   92         risk to both Mitzi Roden and Aaron Edwards,
   93         andWHEREAS, Lee Memorial’s own obstetrical expert,
   94         Jeffrey Phelan, M.D., testified that Mitzi Roden
   95         experienced a tetanic contraction lasting longer than
   96         90 seconds at 8:30 p.m., and Lee Memorial’s own nurse
   97         midwife expert, Lynne Dollar, testified that she
   98         herself would have discontinued Pitocin at 8:30 p.m.,
   99         andWHEREAS, at 8:30 p.m., the administration of
  100         Pitocin was unreasonably and inappropriately increased
  101         to 15 milliunits when reasonable obstetric practices
  102         required that it be discontinued, andWHEREAS, at 9
  103         p.m., Nurse Midwife Hunsucker visited Mitzi Roden at
  104         bedside, but mistakenly believed that the level of
  105         Pitocin remained at 9 milliunits, when, in fact, it
  106         had been increased to 15 milliunits, and further, she
  107         failed to appreciate and correct Mitzi Roden’s
  108         excessive uterine contractility, andWHEREAS, Lynne
  109         Dollar acknowledged that it is below the standard of
  110         care for Nurse Midwife Patricia Hunsucker to not know
  111         the correct level of Pitocin being administered to her
  112         patient, Mitzi Roden, andWHEREAS, at 9:30 p.m., the
  113         administration of Pitocin was again unreasonably and
  114         inappropriately increased to 16 milliunits, when
  115         reasonable obstetric practice required that it be
  116         discontinued in light of Mitzi Roden’s excessive
  117         uterine contractility and intrauterine pressure,
  118         andWHEREAS, as 9:40 p.m., Aaron Edwards could no
  119         longer compensate for the increasingly intense periods
  120         of hypercontractility and excessive intrauterine
  121         pressure brought on by the overuse and poor management
  122         of Pitocin administration, and suffered a reasonably
  123         foreseeable and predictable severe episode of
  124         bradycardia, where his heart rate plummeted to life
  125         endangering levels, which necessitated an emergency
  126         cesarean section. Not until Aaron Edwards’ heart rate
  127         crashed at 9:40 p.m. did Nurse Midwife Patricia
  128         Hunsucker consult with her supervising obstetrician,
  129         Diana Devall, M.D., having not discussed with Dr.
  130         Devall her care and treatment of Mitzi Roden’s labor
  131         since 12:30 p.m. Because Dr. Devall had not been kept
  132         informed about the status of Mitzi Roden’s labor, she
  133         was not on the hospital grounds at the time Aaron
  134         Edwards’ heart rated crashed, and another obstetrician
  135         who was unfamiliar with Mitzi Roden’s labor performed
  136         the emergency cesarean section to save Aaron Edwards’
  137         life, and