On Monday, November 6, 2006 a beautiful young six year old girl entered a Florida hospital through the emergency room. She was triaged and admitted with the knowledge that she had a previous medical history of asthma and previous hospitalizations and ICU admissions at the very same hospital that she presented on November 6, 2006. During the course of this young girl’s hospitalization, she was seen by an emergency room doctor, critical care doctor, pulmonologist, ARNP nurses and other doctors and nurses.
This young girl had problems with her airways as a result of thick mucus. She was in the hospital for several days and woke up with labored breathing, expressed severe anxiousness and congestion. After being in the hospital for three days she woke up very anxious and with severe retractions. She had a major mental status and began mumbling phrases which didn’t make any sense at all such as “I am seeing angels in the room”. After continuous problems she awoke again coughing up large amounts of mucus. The doctors and staff at the hospital attempted to suction her but she began to be difficult to manage and finally her extremities stiffened and she had a major arrest on Thursday, January 9, 2006, almost three days after she was admitted to the hospital. After the arrest the doctors did what is referred to as a bronchoscopy. A Bronchoscopy is a medical procedure that uses a scope to look inside the airways. It allows your doctor to diagnose and in some cases treat problems. Unfortunately this young beautiful six year old girl suffered a hypoxic brain injury and remained severely damaged and most likely will remain that way the rest of her life.
Brett Panter handled this matter and gathered the wisdom of experts from around the Country and put together a pre-suit settlement documentary with all of the evidence of this horrible injury along with the theory of the case completely disclosing the plaintiff’s theory of negligence and began serious negotiations with the hospital. Ultimately after an extended pre-suit, Mr. Panter was able to enter into a settlement which will secure the family’s ability to cope with the substantial lifelong expenses of caring for a child with permanent brain damage. Unlike most cases where the hospitals and defendants have a complete disregard for the injured victims, this was an exception and Mr. Panter was able to negotiate in good faith on behalf of this family and thereby provide financial security for the family in the future, with a settlement providing $20 million in benefits.
Mr. Panter did not stop here, he put together a team of guardianship lawyers, investors and financial experts to help with this child’s needs for her entire life. With the help of the team that was assembled, a special needs trust for this minor child was established, which will help the family maintain Medicaid eligibility thus enabling her to have more medical benefits throughout her lifetime.
