Senate Bill sb0040
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2004 (NP) SB 40
By Senator Diaz de la Portilla
36-18A-04
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the South Broward Hospital
3 District; providing for the relief of Jeffrey
4 Haider; providing for an appropriation to
5 compensate him for injuries and damages
6 sustained as a result of the negligence of the
7 South Broward Hospital District; providing for
8 attorney's fees and costs; providing an
9 effective date.
10
11 WHEREAS, in May 2000, Jeffrey Haider, a 45-year-old
12 man, began experiencing headaches, vomiting, fatigue,
13 dizziness, and behavioral changes, such as difficulty
14 concentrating and confusion, and
15 WHEREAS, as a result of these symptoms, Jeffrey Haider
16 saw several health care providers over a period of several
17 weeks, and
18 WHEREAS, an MRI of Jeffrey Haider was taken on May 31,
19 2000, and
20 WHEREAS, a radiologist and a neurologist determined
21 that Jeffrey Haider had a large mass within the right temporal
22 lobe which was 7 x 5 centimeters in size, and
23 WHEREAS, the mass was diagnosed as a brain tumor and
24 Jeffrey Haider was referred to a neurosurgeon, and
25 WHEREAS, the neurosurgeon who examined Jeffrey Haider
26 agreed that the patient had a right temporal lobe tumor and
27 recommended a craniotomy for resection of the tumor, and
28 WHEREAS, the procedure was performed on June 5, 2000,
29 and once the incisions in the area of the middle cerebral
30 artery were made, massive bleeding occurred, with blood
31
1
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2004 (NP) SB 40
36-18A-04
1 gushing out of Jeffrey Haider's incisions under pulsating
2 pressure, and
3 WHEREAS, at this point the neurosurgeon realized that
4 the diagnosis of a tumor was incorrect and that Jeffrey Haider
5 had an aneurysm, and
6 WHEREAS, in fact, the neurosurgeon notes in his
7 operative report that "at this point, we felt that this
8 probably was an aneurysm. I brought in the radiologist who
9 felt that, in retrospect, this was a possibility," and
10 WHEREAS, an aneurysm is a permanent, abnormally
11 blood-filled dilation of a blood vessel, usually resulting
12 from the disease of a vessel wall, and it is common medical
13 knowledge that puncturing an aneurysm is the incorrect
14 treatment for a cerebral aneurysm, and
15 WHEREAS, the surgeon and the radiologist then summoned
16 an interventional radiologist who performed an angiogram, a
17 procedure that should have been ordered prior to the
18 operation, and
19 WHEREAS, the intraoperative angiogram revealed a giant
20 aneurysm filling from the right middle cerebral artery, and
21 WHEREAS, in an instance of further negligence on the
22 part of the South Broward Hospital District, the neurosurgeon
23 did not repair Jeffrey Haider's middle cerebral artery, but
24 instead controlled the bleeding from the aneurysm for about 45
25 minutes and then closed the dura and the skull, and then sent
26 Jeffrey Haider to the intensive care unit "with the idea of
27 reoperating at a later time," and
28 WHEREAS, however, within hours, Jeffrey Haider was
29 exhibiting dangerous neurological symptoms and was in need of
30 immediate repair of the aneurysm, and
31
2
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2004 (NP) SB 40
36-18A-04
1 WHEREAS, on June 6, 2000, the repair surgery was
2 commenced, and
3 WHEREAS, when Jeffrey Haider's brain was opened it was
4 noted to be "extremely swollen" and the "aneurysm was causing
5 tremendous pressure on the brain and herniating through the
6 craniotomy," and
7 WHEREAS, at that point the neurosurgeon compounded
8 Jeffrey Haider's condition by tearing off the M1 artery from
9 the junction of the aneurysm and the M2 artery so that he was
10 unable to perform an anastomosis to repair and join the
11 arteries, and
12 WHEREAS, Dr. Rodriquez, the neurosurgeon, states in his
13 operative report that "the larger M2 (artery), and even the
14 other one, were essentially on the aneurysm bulbous dilation
15 and I could not bring them together to do an anostemosis," and
16 WHEREAS, Jeffrey Haider has suffered astronomical
17 economic and noneconomic damages as a result of the treatment
18 he received from the South Broward Hospital District, and
19 WHEREAS, Jeffrey Haider is in a chronic vegetative
20 state state and requires 7-day-a-week, around-the-clock care,
21 NOW, THEREFORE,
22
23 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
24
25 Section 1. The facts stated in the preamble to this
26 act are found and declared to be true.
27 Section 2. The South Broward Hospital District is
28 authorized and directed to appropriate from funds of the
29 hospital district not otherwise appropriated and to draw a
30 warrant in the sum of $3,800,000, plus interest, as agreed to
31 by the claimant and the South Broward Hospital District,
3
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2004 (NP) SB 40
36-18A-04
1 payable to Jeffrey Haider as compensation for injuries and
2 damages sustained. After payment of attorney's fees and costs,
3 the balance shall be paid into the guardianship account
4 established for Jeffrey Haider.
5 Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a
6 law.
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
4
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.