HB 0959

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to the North Broward Hospital District;
3	providing for the relief of Adam Susser, a minor, by and
4	through his parents and natural guardians, Judith Susser
5	and Gary Susser; providing for an appropriation to
6	compensate him for injuries and damages sustained as a
7	result of the negligence of the North Broward Hospital
8	District, d.b.a. Coral Springs Medical Center; providing
9	an effective date.
10
11	WHEREAS, in July 2000, Gary Susser, a lawyer, and his wife,
12	Judith Susser, a paralegal, were residing in Boca Raton,
13	Florida, and
14	WHEREAS, prior to her marriage to Gary Susser, Judith
15	Susser was unable to have children, and
16	WHEREAS, after their marriage, Judith and Gary Susser badly
17	wanted to have children, despite the fact that Judith Susser was
18	47 years of age, and
19	WHEREAS, Judith Susser went to a fertility expert and was
20	finally able to become pregnant through in vitro fertilization,
21	and
22	WHEREAS, prenatal tests revealed that Judith Susser was
23	pregnant with twins, and consequently Judith and Gary Susser
24	were looking forward to the birth of their twin boys, and
25	WHEREAS, Judith and Gary Susser sought out high-risk
26	pregnancy experts who could guide them through Judith Susser's
27	pregnancy in order to ensure that her pregnancy progressed
28	safely and without complications, and
29	WHEREAS, Judith Susser kept all of her appointments and
30	complied with all orders by her physicians, and
31	WHEREAS, at approximately 34 weeks gestation, Judith
32	Susser?s membrane on the sac holding Adam Susser ruptured, and
33	WHEREAS, Gary Susser immediately took his wife to the Coral
34	Springs Medical Center where, on July 6, 2000, she was admitted
35	by her obstetrician's office and where she remained until her
36	discharge on July 12, 2000, and
37	WHEREAS, during the admission, a high-risk perinatal
38	expert, Dr. Christine Edwards, as well as Dr. Kerry Kuhn, and
39	Dr. Carrie Greenspan, Dr. Kuhn?s partner, also saw Judith
40	Susser, and
41	WHEREAS, despite a nonreassuring fetal heart pattern and
42	despite the fact that the nurses kept having difficulties
43	getting the fetal monitoring to perform properly, the pregnancy
44	was allowed to continue for 4 and 1/2 days, with the nurses
45	never reporting the abnormal test results or the difficulties
46	they were having with the fetal monitoring equipment to the
47	physicians, and
48	WHEREAS, two days into Judith Susser's labor, a biophysical
49	profile was ordered to be performed by Dr. Edwards, and
50	WHEREAS, that biophysical profile yielded abnormal
51	indications but was never reported by the nurses to the
52	obstetricians or to the Sussers, and Judith Susser?s labor was
53	allowed to continue, and
54	WHEREAS, finally, on the early morning of the fifth day of
55	labor, Judith Susser was taken to the operating room for
56	delivery, and
57	WHEREAS, the physician in charge was insistent on
58	performing a vaginal delivery despite all the obvious needs for
59	an emergency cesarean section, and
60	WHEREAS, when Dr. Kuhn reached the delivery room, he asked
61	for fetal monitoring to be commenced and the nurses indicated
62	that they could not bring the fetal monitoring machine into the
63	delivery room because they did not have a fetal monitor for
64	twins available, and
65	WHEREAS, Gary Susser then asked the nurses to get the fetal
66	monitoring machine from the room that Judith Susser had
67	previously been in for 4 days, which demand was also made by Dr.
68	Kuhn, and the nurses said they could not remove the monitoring
69	machine from the wall, and
70	WHEREAS, for the next hour there was no monitoring
71	whatsoever on Adam Susser, and Dr. Kuhn continued to wait, and
72	WHEREAS, on July 10, 2000, Adam Susser was born by vaginal
73	delivery, and
74	WHEREAS, tragically, as a result of the extraordinary and
75	egregious malpractice by the physicians and nurses at the Coral
76	Springs Medical Center, Adam Susser was born severely depressed
77	and oxygen-deprived, which led to severe brain damage, and
78	WHEREAS, one half-hour after the birth of Adam Susser,
79	Brandon Susser, Adam Susser's twin brother, was born, and
80	WHEREAS, Brandon Susser was born in better condition than
81	his twin brother, Adam, but was later found to have
82	hydrocephalous, a condition which required a shunt to be placed
83	in his brain, and
84	WHEREAS, since his birth, Brandon Susser has done very well
85	but is still substantially at risk for developmental problems,
86	and
87	WHEREAS, on the other hand, Adam Susser, now 3 and 1/2
88	years old, was permanently damaged as a result of the medical
89	malpractice of the Coral Springs Medical Center, and
90	WHEREAS, Adam Susser cannot walk and will never be able to
91	walk, cannot sit up on his own, cannot use his hands or arms, is
92	cortically blind, needs to be fed through a feeding tube, and is
93	severely mentally and physically impaired, and
94	WHEREAS, though by all accounts Adam Susser will have a
95	normal life expectancy, which means that he should live into his
96	70?s, Adam Susser will require medical care and treatment for
97	the remainder of his life, and
98	WHEREAS, the negligent care administered by the Coral
99	Springs Medical Center formed the basis of legal action against
100	the North Broward Hospital District, d.b.a. Coral Springs
101	Medical Center, and
102	WHEREAS, the matter was settled prior to trial with the
103	overall settlement amount being $9,800,000, and
104	WHEREAS, the hospital's private insurer, the Zurich
105	Insurance Company, paid the claimants the amount of
106	$3,831,218.04 on behalf of the North Broward Hospital District,
107	and
108	WHEREAS, the North Broward Hospital District paid $200,000
109	for the benefit of Adam Susser and $200,000 for the benefit of
110	Brandon Susser pursuant to the limits of liability set forth in
111	s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, and
112	WHEREAS, in addition, the North Broward Hospital District
113	fully supports the passage of a claim bill for the amount of
114	$668,781.96, NOW, THEREFORE,
115
116	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
117
118	Section 1.  The facts stated in the preamble to this act
119	are found and declared to be true.
120	Section 2.  The North Broward Hospital District is
121	authorized and directed to appropriate from funds of the
122	hospital district not otherwise appropriated and to draw a
123	warrant in the sum of $668,781.96 payable to the special needs
124	trust established for the care and benefit of Adam Susser, minor
125	child of Judith Susser and Gary Susser, as compensation for
126	injuries and damages sustained as a result of the negligence of
127	the North Broward Hospital District.
128	Section 3.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.