Senate Bill sb0020

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    Florida Senate - 2005        (NP)                        SB 20

    By Senator Jones





    13-90-05

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to the North Broward Hospital

  3         District; providing for the relief of Adam

  4         Susser, a minor, by and through his parents and

  5         natural guardians, Judith Susser and Gary

  6         Susser; providing for an appropriation to

  7         compensate him for injuries and damages

  8         sustained as a result of the negligence of the

  9         North Broward Hospital District, d.b.a. Coral

10         Springs Medical Center; providing an effective

11         date.

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13         WHEREAS, in July 2000, Gary Susser, a lawyer, and his

14  wife, Judith Susser, a paralegal, were residing in Boca Raton,

15  Florida, and

16         WHEREAS, prior to her marriage to Gary Susser, Judith

17  Susser was unable to have children, and

18         WHEREAS, after their marriage, Judith and Gary Susser

19  badly wanted to have children, despite the fact that Judith

20  Susser was 47 years of age, and

21         WHEREAS, Judith Susser went to a fertility expert and

22  was finally able to become pregnant through in vitro

23  fertilization, and

24         WHEREAS, prenatal tests revealed that Judith Susser was

25  pregnant with twins, and consequently Judith and Gary Susser

26  were looking forward to the birth of their twin boys, and

27         WHEREAS, Judith and Gary Susser sought out high-risk

28  pregnancy experts who could guide them through Judith Susser's

29  pregnancy in order to ensure that her pregnancy progressed

30  safely and without complications, and

31  

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    Florida Senate - 2005        (NP)                        SB 20
    13-90-05




 1         WHEREAS, Judith Susser kept all of her appointments and

 2  complied with all orders by her physicians, and

 3         WHEREAS, at approximately 34 weeks gestation, Judith

 4  Susser's membrane on the sac holding Adam Susser ruptured, and

 5         WHEREAS, Gary Susser immediately took his wife to the

 6  Coral Springs Medical Center where, on July 6, 2000, she was

 7  admitted by her obstetrician's office and where she remained

 8  until her discharge on July 12, 2000, and

 9         WHEREAS, during the admission, a high-risk perinatal

10  expert, Dr. Christine Edwards, as well as Dr. Kerry Kuhn, and

11  Dr. Carrie Greenspan, Dr. Kuhn's partner, also saw Judith

12  Susser, and

13         WHEREAS, despite a nonreassuring fetal heart pattern

14  and despite the fact that the nurses kept having difficulties

15  getting the fetal monitoring to perform properly, the

16  pregnancy was allowed to continue for 4 and 1/2 days, with the

17  nurses never reporting the abnormal test results or the

18  difficulties they were having with the fetal monitoring

19  equipment to the physicians, and

20         WHEREAS, two days into Judith Susser's labor, a

21  biophysical profile was ordered to be performed by Dr.

22  Edwards, and

23         WHEREAS, that biophysical profile yielded abnormal

24  indications but was never reported by the nurses to the

25  obstetricians or to the Sussers, and Judith Susser's labor was

26  allowed to continue, and

27         WHEREAS, finally, on the early morning of the fifth day

28  of labor, Judith Susser was taken to the operating room for

29  delivery, and

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    Florida Senate - 2005        (NP)                        SB 20
    13-90-05




 1         WHEREAS, the physician in charge was insistent on

 2  performing a vaginal delivery despite all the obvious needs

 3  for an emergency cesarean section, and

 4         WHEREAS, when Dr. Kuhn reached the delivery room, he

 5  asked for fetal monitoring to be commenced and the nurses

 6  indicated that they could not bring the fetal monitoring

 7  machine into the delivery room because they did not have a

 8  fetal monitor for twins available, and

 9         WHEREAS, Gary Susser then asked the nurses to get the

10  fetal monitoring machine from the room that Judith Susser had

11  previously been in for 4 days, which demand was also made by

12  Dr. Kuhn, and the nurses said they could not remove the

13  monitoring machine from the wall, and

14         WHEREAS, for the next hour there was no monitoring

15  whatsoever on Adam Susser, and Dr. Kuhn continued to wait, and

16         WHEREAS, on July 10, 2000, Adam Susser was born by

17  vaginal delivery, and

18         WHEREAS, tragically, as a result of the extraordinary

19  and egregious malpractice by the physicians and nurses at the

20  Coral Springs Medical Center, Adam Susser was born severely

21  depressed and oxygen-deprived, which led to severe brain

22  damage, and

23         WHEREAS, one half-hour after the birth of Adam Susser,

24  Brandon Susser, Adam Susser's twin brother, was born, and

25         WHEREAS, Brandon Susser was born in better condition

26  than his twin brother, Adam, but was later found to have

27  hydrocephalous, a condition which required a shunt to be

28  placed in his brain, and

29         WHEREAS, since his birth, Brandon Susser has done very

30  well but is still substantially at risk for developmental

31  problems, and

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    Florida Senate - 2005        (NP)                        SB 20
    13-90-05




 1         WHEREAS, on the other hand, Adam Susser, now 4 and 1/2

 2  years old, was permanently damaged as a result of the medical

 3  malpractice of the Coral Springs Medical Center, and

 4         WHEREAS, Adam Susser cannot walk and will never be able

 5  to walk, cannot sit up on his own, cannot use his hands or

 6  arms, is cortically blind, needs to be fed through a feeding

 7  tube, and is severely mentally and physically impaired, and

 8         WHEREAS, though by all accounts Adam Susser will have a

 9  normal life expectancy, which means that he should live into

10  his 70's, Adam Susser will require medical care and treatment

11  for the remainder of his life, and

12         WHEREAS, the negligent care administered by the Coral

13  Springs Medical Center formed the basis of legal action

14  against the North Broward Hospital District, d.b.a. Coral

15  Springs Medical Center, and

16         WHEREAS, the matter was settled prior to trial with the

17  overall settlement amount being $9.8 million, and

18         WHEREAS, the hospital's private insurer, the Zurich

19  Insurance Company, paid the claimants the amount of

20  $3,831,218.04 on behalf of the North Broward Hospital

21  District, and

22         WHEREAS, the North Broward Hospital District paid

23  $200,000 for the benefit of Adam Susser and $200,000 for the

24  benefit of Brandon Susser pursuant to the limits of liability

25  set forth in section 768.28, Florida Statutes, and

26         WHEREAS, in addition, the North Broward Hospital

27  District fully supports the passage of a claim bill for the

28  amount of $668,781.96, NOW, THEREFORE,

29  

30  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

31  

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    Florida Senate - 2005        (NP)                        SB 20
    13-90-05




 1         Section 1.  The facts stated in the preamble to this

 2  act are found and declared to be true.

 3         Section 2.  The North Broward Hospital District is

 4  authorized and directed to appropriate from funds of the

 5  hospital district not otherwise appropriated and to draw a

 6  warrant in the sum of $668,781.96 payable to the special needs

 7  trust established for the care and benefit of Adam Susser,

 8  minor child of Judith Susser and Gary Susser, as compensation

 9  for injuries and damages sustained as a result of the

10  negligence of the North Broward Hospital District.

11         Section 3.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

12  law.

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