CS/HB 647

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act for the relief of Raul Otero by the South Broward
3	Hospital District; providing for an appropriation to
4	compensate him for injuries sustained as a result of the
5	negligence of Memorial Regional Hospital; providing a
6	limitation on the payment of fees and costs; providing an
7	effective date.
8
9	WHEREAS, on March 28, 2003, 18-year-old Raul Otero was
10	involved in a motorcycle accident, and was seriously injured and
11	taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida.
12	Memorial Regional Hospital is a public hospital owned by the
13	South Broward Hospital District. His injuries resulted in an
14	above-the-knee amputation of his left leg and a spleenectomy.
15	The insurer of the at-fault driver tendered $1 million, which
16	was the driver's policy limit, and
17	WHEREAS, on April 16, 2003, while in the trauma intensive
18	care unit at Memorial Regional Hospital, Mr. Otero was taken
19	during the night shift to the MRI laboratory for a scan to rule
20	out a nonemergency shoulder injury. Mr. Otero was accompanied by
21	a nurse and a respiratory therapist to the MRI laboratory but
22	was removed from his ventilator at the time he was transported
23	to the MRI during the night shift when the hospital operates
24	using significantly fewer staff. He was alert and oriented. Mr.
25	Otero became panicky during the scan and was given several doses
26	of a narcotic sedative, Versed, in addition to the narcotic
27	medication he was already receiving intravenously. Because of
28	his panicked thrashing, an order for a paralytic drug was also
29	given. Lawton Tang, M.D., a surgical resident employed by Mt.
30	Sinai Medical Center and working under the supervision of
31	attending physicians of the South Broward Hospital District on a
32	rotation through Memorial Regional Hospital, was not present and
33	gave the medication orders by telephone, and
34	WHEREAS, shortly thereafter Raul Otero went into cardiac
35	arrest, a code was called, and, after a relatively extended
36	process, Mr. Otero was successfully resuscitated. However, he
37	was found to be suffering from anoxic encephalopathy, and
38	WHEREAS, several physicians, including the trauma resident
39	on duty at the time, testified that Mr. Otero was not stable
40	enough to be taken from intensive care during the midnight shift
41	for an elective MRI. In fact, the very next day this practice
42	was expressly forbidden by then Chief of Trauma, Lawrence
43	Lottenberg, M.D., and
44	WHEREAS, Raul Otero is completely incontinent, is
45	quadriplegic, and cannot speak, and is unable to consistently
46	follow simple one-step commands. Mr. Otero's life-care plan was
47	drafted by Sharon Griffin, Ph.D., and was originally valued in
48	excess of $20 million. Now that his feeding tube and ventilator
49	have been removed, the cost of his future care has been revised
50	to approximately $12 million, and
51	WHEREAS, the surgical resident, Lawton Tang, M.D., the
52	resident who gave the telephonic medication orders, and Mt.
53	Sinai Medical Center, his employer, have settled for $2 million,
54	and
55	WHEREAS, the South Broward Hospital District has agreed to
56	pay $100,000 to Raul Otero and $100,000 to his mother and
57	primary caregiver, Ana Otero, pursuant to s. 768.28, Florida
58	Statutes. In addition, the district has agreed to the passage of
59	a claim bill in the amount of $2 million, NOW, THEREFORE,
60
61	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
62
63	Section 1.  The facts stated in the preamble to this act
64	are found and declared to be true.
65	Section 2.  The South Broward Hospital District is
66	authorized and directed to appropriate from funds of the
67	district not otherwise appropriated and to draw a warrant in the
68	sum of $2 million payable to Raul Otero as compensation for
69	injuries and damages sustained.
70	Section 3.  The amount awarded in this act is intended to
71	provide the sole compensation for all present and future claims
72	arising out of the factual situation described in this act which
73	resulted in injury to Raul Otero. The total amount paid for
74	attorney's fees, lobbying fees, costs, and other similar
75	expenses relating to the adoption of this act may not exceed 25
76	percent of the total amount awarded under this act.
77	Section 4.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.

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