$3 Million Recovery for Brain Damaged Girl

Kenneth Rothweiler, Fredric Eisenberg, and Brian Hall recovered $3 million for a young Delaware County girl who suffered a significant brain injury from cardiac arrest.

When she was six years old, our client was diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome, a disorder that weakens the body’s connective tissues. As a result of this diagnosis, her heart was evaluated annually to ensure the syndrome did not damage her heart valves or aorta. All yearly evaluations showed our client’s heart was not affected by the syndrome and no cardiac rhythm abnormalities were present.

In the summer of 2006, when she was 14, our client briefly passed out while playing. Upon recovery she was temporarily unable to walk or talk. Her family rushed her to the emergency room and tests showed she had a syncopal event, a temporary loss of consciousness due to decreased blood flow. Doctors at the emergency room recommended a visit to her cardiologist for further tests and monitoring.

Two weeks later and before the visit to her cardiologist, our client suffered a second syncopal episode. Her parents rushed her to the emergency room for cardiac testing. She did not undergo any cardiac testing while in the hospital; however the doctor on call decided her symptoms were neurological in nature and neglected to evaluate her heart despite knowing she was diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome. The on call cardiologist never examined our client and she was discharged with recommended out-patient cardiac care as needed.

A month later our client suffered a third syncopal event. During this event, she stopped breathing and paramedics found her with a severely abnormal heart rhythm. The paramedic team stabilized her and rushed her to the hospital. An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator was implanted into the young girl to stabilize her heart beat upon admission to the hospital. Unfortunately, the cardiac arrest episode had already caused a significant anoxic brain injury.

In those precious minutes when our client collapsed during her third syncopal episode, her brain was starved of oxygen causing permanent brain injuries. Once a bright young high school student with an A-B average, she now struggles to maintain a C-D average, three grades below her normal education level. She lost her job at a local store because she was unable to count change and failed the written portion of her driver’s test 17 times before she passed. Her brain injury will affect her for the rest of her life.

Rothweiler, Eisenberg, and Hall successfully demonstrated at mediation that the doctor and hospital were negligent for failing to monitor their client for cardiac problems after her second syncopal episode. The patient had a history of heart problems that was ignored by the on-call doctor at the hospital. Unfortunately, poor medical care has left her with permanent disabilities and a constant struggle to live a normal life.

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