The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
The federal government has agreed to pay $450,000 to settle a medical malpractice case filed by the family of a woman who died at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center after a routine surgery to remove an infected boil.
Miriam "Feenee" Hadley of Virginia Beach was 43 when she died in May 2006. She left a husband, retired Navy petty officer Randy Hadley, and an adult son. She also had four foster sons living with her at the time of her death.
Hadley's husband and son each will receive $158,000, with the balance going toward attorney's fees and expenses, according to a court filing released Wednesday. A federal magistrate judge approved the settlement Tuesday, avoiding the need for a trial.
The federal government admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement. Officials in the U.S. Attorney's Office, which defended the case, declined to comment.
Robert E. Brown, the attorney for Randy Hadley and his wife's son, Dexter Smith, said Hadley died after an anesthesiologist failed to intubate her after the surgery. Her airway became obstructed and she stopped breathing, causing cardiac arrest, he said.
She was resuscitated but never awakened and was declared brain-dead, Brown said. She died four days later.
"She was well thought of in her community. She was a very lovely lady," Brown said.
According to a civil complaint filed in U.S. District Court about a year ago, Hadley was being treated at a Virginia Beach TriCare clinic for an infected boil on her thigh in April 2006. When the infection worsened, the clinic sent her to the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, where doctors determined that emergency surgery was necessary.
The surgery was successful, but Hadley was left without a breathing tube for at least 15 minutes while being transferred from the operating room to the intensive care unit, the complaint says.
The anesthesiologist, knowing that Hadley had other medical issues, including diabetes, should have put the breathing tube in place, Brown said. Her airway constricted in that time period, and when she arrived in the ICU, she had no pulse or blood pressure, the court papers say.
Brown said the doctors should have known that Hadley was a high-risk patient who would have required intubation after surgery. Three experts agreed with him, he said.
The government denied any negligence and admitted little more than that she died at the hospital.
The Hadley family and her community were devastated by the death, Brown said. Her son dropped out of college and has not been able to return.
Hadley worked as a therapeutic foster mother, taking in challenging teenagers in need of a stable home environment. She also volunteered at her church, the St. James Missionary Church on Old Providence Road, which renamed its outreach center the Miriam Hadley Outreach Ministry.
Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com
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NMCP
My thoughts goes out to the family. But I like to say, if it wasn't for the NMCP I would not be here today. I command all that they do. If was an unfortunate accident and I believe the doctor responsible feels bad. The protocol is to be transferred when something like this happen. But don't post negative things about the hospital as a whole because there are great doctors who take pride in their work at The First and Finest Naval hospital in the naval fleet.
Government Issues
For those people who posted comments of support for our family, we thank you. This issue was never about money for the family, it was about the persons who made the mistake being held accountable for that mistake. While we all are human and we make mistakes becasue we are not perfect and learn from our imperfections we still must at least acknowledge that this was a human being. Finnee's death not only affected Randy, Dexter her mother, brother and other family members, it had a profound affect on the foster children that she cared for. These children already had endured a lifetime of lost, their families for what ever the reason may have been, she filled that void. Finnee was not only Dexter's mother and Randy's wife but a mother to these children who had come from backgrounds of abuse and neglect, something that some of the ill considerate writers may not know anything about. Regardless of how our tax dollars will be allocated, it was a mistake that needed to be uncovered. Our tax dollars are used for many governmental mistakes but are used for just as many pleasurable things for our City, State and Governmental officals. Let's not make this a money issue for the writer w
No Wrongdoing?
FED GOV'T ("FG") admitted NO wrongdoing? How do you "forget" to put a breathing tube in? You'll soon discover $158,000 isn't BO-DIDDLEY and you should've made the FG pay damages and atty's fees. As usual...NAVY can do no wrong. Just goes to show you inexperienced NAVY medicine at it's best ('worst'). How does the NAVY kill someone in "routine surgery" to remove an infected boil? If you've seen a past journalist news on Military Medicine...these Navy Doctors wouldn't even pass a Civilian Board to practice Civilian medicine. I believe the Navy would get BETTER care if they CHAMPUS OUT their healthcare and have NAVY Members pay $20 copays to offset the cost...atleast you could be better guaranteed on not being killed by having an infected boil removed.
Poor quality care
A friend of mine almost died when he went to the Naval hospital because they didn't diagnose a blood clot in his lung. (This was shortly after he had knee surgery and was laid-up for awhile. They thought he had a kidney stone!) Thank God for his wife who insisted on taking him to Chesapeake General's E.R. where he was quickly diagnosed. It saved his life.
Naval Med Center
Remember this is GOVERMENT health care. I've been in it since 1970 active and retired. We were all promised this was going to be FREE even after retirement, now TRICARE. Thanks. I am sorry for the family. I have known other families that almost lost their loved ones because of Mistakes or incompetence and were not able to sue because we were under a government health care system.
Remember Congress and Senate is made up of mostly LAWYERS.
So think twice if you really want Obama’s health care.
FREE IS NOT FREE!!!!!!!!
What I love about this
Is the fact that if she lived to 70 years old, she had 27 more years with her family. So divide the family portion of the settlement out over those years and you get roughly 12,000 per year. That is what their spouse/mom was worth to the system. Yes your happiness has a price tag, and to the system life is cheap.
Lawyers Fee
If they had won 1 million, the lawyer would have received $330,000. Was his loss as big as each family member. The judge and jury knows what their fee will be and always give a larger amount because of this fee. They sometimes win these fee's by simply writing a couple letters. This is one reason medical insurance is so high. Most lawyer jokes have a lot of truth to them. I know of one lawyer that took advantage of an elderly couple by charging them $1500.00 by writing a simple will for them. It was a format on his computer that his secretary inserted their names and a few other things that took her about five minutes. He told them it was a special will for them. The only thing special was his fee.
Why do you think you see so many TV ads for injury cases. They advertise, no settlement, no fee. What they fail to tell you is that the client has to pay for all expenses. The only thing it cost the lawyer is a little of his or her time.
WHO WAS THE DOCTOR?
Who was the doctor who forgot to put the breathing tube in? Unfortunately some of the doctors at NAVMEDCEN Portsmouth are civilian doctors who are there due to their less than stellar performance records in civilian medicine. They go to avoid malpractice. We know this from a personal experience there.
A tragic and horrible consequence, a little edification
This loss is certainly tragic for all the people involved (excluding the lawyers, but they were doing their job.) The neglect/mistake/tragedy occurred, as is often the case, in the process of TRANSITION of the patient from one area of service to another area of service. This can be the most dangerous part of any medical treatment, and extra vigilance is called for whenever anyone is moved from one team of care providers to another. Quite probably this error would have been caught and corrected immediately if a transition had not been involved. This can happen in any facility, government or not.
The fact remains
The fact remains that someone died because of this "mistake". The fact remains that the person or persons who made this mistake are still practicing medicine. If you knew they were the ones responsible for someone's death would you go to them for your (or your family's) medical care? How many deaths are acceptable? How many lives must be lost before it's acceptable to file a lawsuit?
Anytime there is an egregious error on the part of medical personnel (or anyone else for that matter) there must be accountability. Little mistakes that have no negative outcome on a persons life are the time to make corrective action, BEFORE someone dies. When there is no acccountability, then there is no responsibility.