Lee Memorial Health System / State of Florida - You Should Be Ashamed!
LEE COUNTY, FL -Lee Memorial Health System has been ordered to pay $30-million to a family after a jury found the hospital violated its own rules and severely disabled a baby boy at birth.
Aaron Edwards cannot walk or talk, and his mother struggles to care for him.
Five years after that jury trial, the hospital hasn't paid.
Lee Memorial is a public health system and therefore protected by Sovereign Immunity. No matter a jury judgment, the hospital is only required to pay $200,000, unless lawmakers sign a bill forcing them to pay.
In Canon City, Colorado, 2,000 miles from Southwest Florida, Aaron's smile is the bright spot in his mother Mitzi Roden's busy world.
"He enjoys doing school work. He enjoys writing stories, and enjoys writing songs. He absolutely enjoys being able to go out and meet people," Roden said about her son.
Just going out is a challenge for Roden and Aaron. At 14, he needs 24-7 care, is bound to a wheelchair, and can only communicate through a computer.
Roden cares for him in her dog-grooming shop, which doubles as Aaron's school.
"He's a spastic quadriplegic," Roden says.
A jury determined those injuries were caused due to mistakes made at Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers during Aaron's birth.
Against his parent's pleas, a nurse administered the drug Pitocin to speed up Mitzi's labor, and forgot to stop the drip hours later.
That put baby Aaron's body into fetal shock by cutting off his air supply.
"They damaged him for life, and they have never made it right," Aaron's attorney Chris Searcy said.
Searcy fought for the family in court, and won a $30-million judgment for Aaron, but because Lee Memorial is protected by Sovereign Immunity, it is only required to pay $200,000 of any settlement.
We asked Lee Memorial officials why they wouldn't just pay the rest and a spokesperson told NBC2 it was because they didn't have to.
"Politics. It's all politics. All I wanted to do is have a healthy child, and what it turned out to be, was politics," Roden said.
The only way for Aaron to get his money is for the state legislature to pass what's called a Claims Bill.
Claims Bills are decided on a case-by-case basis and ask lawmakers to make exceptions to Sovereign Immunity.
It's something Aaron's family hoped for last year, but his bill never made it past committee in the House of Representatives.
"It's politics. When you take an injured victim such as Aaron Edwards, they've got no socioeconomic clout. They can't go lobby any legislators," Searcy said.
That's not stopping Aaron.
"We are counting on you," Aaron typed into his computer.
With the help of his computer, he's pleading for help the only way he can, so he and his mother can get the help they so desperately need.
"I don't want to be halfway there forever. Please, please help me," Aaron said through his computer.
After weeks of asking, Lee Memorial Health officials sent us this statement:
"Sovereign immunity is a time honored rule of law intended to balance the needs of the individual with the health and welfare of the community. In this case, and in today's circumstances, that balance does not support a claims bill that is a staggering 40 times the average for this type of claim when at the same time Lee Memorial Health System is facing massive Medicaid and Medicare cuts. Passing of this claims bill will produce unprecedented economic challenges for the delivery of health care in our community."
NBC2 asked for clarification on what 'the average for this type of claim' was and whether a smaller settlement amount, such as $15-million suggested by the Senate Special Master's report during last year's legislative session would change things, and did not receive clarification.
A spokesperson for Lee Memorial told us the hospital had an income of $37-million at the end of its 2010 fiscal year.
Senate President Mike Haridopolous has yet to assign the bill to its proper committee, and the House Civil Justice Subcommittee hasn't discussed the bill yet.
If either chamber stalls the bill, it dies, and Aaron will have to try again next year.
