Tampa hospital found liable in infant death;
Jury awards parents $12M in medical malpractice case

Tampa, FL (July 15, 2008) – Infant death case: The parents of a newborn baby boy who died in 2003 of an intestinal infection at Tampa General Hospital sued the hospital in 2005 for medical malpractice, alleging doctors did not do enough to save their child.

Last month, a Hillsborough County jury agreed and awarded the couple $12 million for their pain and suffering.

The Tampa Tribune reports that the families of eight other children claim the hospital was at fault in their babies deaths from the same infection – “necrotizing enterocolitis,” or NEC, an infection that most often occurs in the intestines of premature infants.

All the lawsuits make the same accusation, that a pediatric surgeon never examined the babies at the hospital. Most died within days of being diagnosed with NEC.

According to newspaper accounts, the hospital declined to say how many patients with NEC it treated during the years covered in the lawsuits, and how many died.

But that information became public last month, when a hospital employee testified that between Jan. 1, 2002, and Dec. 31, 2004, Tampa General treated 59 infants who had been diagnosed with NEC, either before being transferred there or during their stay. According to the testimony reported by The Tampa Tribune, 18 died at the hospital, and most of those who died did not receive surgery.

When a patient puts their trust in a hospital and is betrayed like this, a medical malpractice lawyer can be your best champion.

Medical patients injured in the New York tri-state area are urged to contact the law firm of Weitz & Luxenberg, P.C. – the largest personal injury law firm in New York.

To receive a free consultation on the legal merits of your medical malpractice complaint, please fill out the form on this page and send it to the Weitz & Luxenberg team of medical malpractice lawyers.

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