Louisiana Medical Malpractice Caps Questioned As Three Families Sue Hospital

The New Orleans Children’s Hospital, Louisiana is embroiled in a bitter legal battle with three families after a fungal outbreak that lasted 11 months over 2008 and 2009 resulted in the deaths of five children. Medical malpractice lawsuits seek justice for the families affected. 

Louisiana Families Challenge Medical Malpractice Caps

According to reports, the deaths of five children has resulted in three families filing lawsuits against New Orleans Children’s Hospital.  Three of the five families in question have worked with lawyers to get around the strict medical malpractice caps that Louisiana have in place.  These include a limit on the award amount and a three-year deadline to file a claim.  Currently the most that a family can win in damages is $500,000.

In order to bring the lawsuits to court and get over the caps, which were introduced in 1975 after a nationwide debate over rising costs of malpractice insurance, the families’ lawyers have come together claiming that the outbreak was not the fault of the hospital’s doctors but rather the fault of the hospital administration.  This would make the lawsuits fall under a general negligence claim and not medical malpractice.

Those named as the defendants in the suit are the hospital, linen supplier TLC Services and Aramark Management Service – the company that provided the hospitals head of housekeeping at the time.  They are maintaining that the problem came from poor housekeeping and not medical wrongdoing.  The hospital however is arguing that the children affected were patients of negligent doctors and so it should fall under medical malpractice.

Lawsuit Number One

The first child to be infected with the deadly fungal disease, which is known as mucormycosis and is found in dirt or decaying organic matter, was newborn Tyrel Caden Gee who was born in July 2008.  He was just 44 days old and in the Children’s Hospital’s NICU when the disease took over his tiny body and won.  A mark on his groin spread into an infection that ate away at his skin.  His parents Cassandra and Terrell filed a lawsuit after learning about the true extent of the outbreak.

Lawsuit Number Two

Tiercia Jackson was admitted to Children’s Hospital in April 2009 with a heart condition that required valve replacement surgery.  However while in hospital her kidneys failed and she had a stroke.  The fungal infection developed on 10-year-old Tiercia’s face and she underwent four separate surgeries to remove skin, muscle and nerves.  She died 3 months later.  Her mother, Shennetta Jackson, did not know at that time that three other children had already died due to the fungus.

Shennetta filed a lawsuit in July 2010 but Children’s Hospital argued that the case be dismissed because the grieving mother alleged medical malpractice which the state requires should be heard by a medical review panel of three doctors before being filed in court.  The claims would also have been subject to the half a million dollar cap.  However the court judge ruled that Shennetta and her family were in the right to file their claim and the matter was settled out of court.

Lawsuit Number Three

Zachary Tyler was 13-years-old when he died.  He was admitted to Children’s Hospital in February 2009 with a cancer-like condition that leads to organ failure.  He developed a small skin infection on his left armpit which began to grow and grow finally reaching the size of a baseball.  The infection spread all over his body until he was placed on a ventilator.  He died in May 2009.

Hospital Acknowledges Failures

The hospital has admitted their failings.  They acknowledge that they should have informed parents of the outbreak as soon as it happened.  The hospital’s medical director has also come forward to admit that they “failed” the children and their families.

Contact a Medical Malpractice Lawyer

At MedMalFirm.com, our lawyers are leaders in medical malpractice litigation.  Our team is dedicated and passionate about medical malpractice cases.  We are able to help you understand your legal rights and build your case.  Our goal is to bring those that are negligent to justice.  No matter how big or small the defendant, our resilient lawyers will fight for your family.

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