A quadriplegic man who developed bedsores "all the way down to the bone" will receive $2.2M in damages as a result of the hospital's neglect.  Caregivers failed to turn Eric Trainor every two hours during his six-week stay, which caused bedsores and severely hampered his rehabilitation.

A jury in Chicago returned a $5 million verdict yesterday for a woman who claimed her obstetrician performed an unnecessary hysterectomy.  The verdict followed a week long trial. - 42 - 50

A jury compensated the family of a brain damaged child $7.3 million in a medical negligence lawsuit against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center over the hospital's alleged failure to quickly diagnose and treat a baby with meningitis.  The Los Angeles jury returned the unanimous verdict Friday in favor of the plaintiff Paris Campen, now 5, who suffered brain damage as a result of the illness.  The lawsuit was filed in 2005 and alleged that doctors in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit were negligent. - 43 - 50

A woman left bedridden and in excruciating pain following spinal surgery in 2003 at Mount Sinai Medical Center was provided $38 million in compensation for a lifetime worth of suffering.  A six-person jury deliberated nine hours over two days before finding that neurosurgeon, the hospital and the hospital's pharmacy management firm caused her  debilitating injuries.

The hospital settled before the case went to trial, so it's not on the hook to pay any part of the award. The hospital's pharmacy management firm at the time vowed to appeal.  The nuerosurgeon originally operated on the woman to repair a herniated disc. In a subsequent surgery to fix a spinal fluid leak, the nuerosurgeon injected the womam's spine with a dye -- the chemical methylene blue -- in an attempt to locate the leak. The chemical's packaging, which had been discarded, warned it should not be used for the surgery that she underwent.  Following the surgery, the victim developed a neurological disability known as arachnoiditis. She said she suffers from burning, stabbing and pressure pains throughout her body and is bed ridden and in a wheelchair.

A $6.5 million settlement was reached on behalf of a 7-year-old boy who allegedly suffered a brain injury at birth at Provena Mercy Medical Center.

Attorneys for the boy say the attending obstetrician, as well as the labor and delivery nurse, failed to respond to the baby's low heart rate and reduced oxygen flow caused by the drug Pitocin.

The family's lawyers said the settlement amount will pay for the child's continued health care.  The baby was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and has limited mobility.
- 45 - 50

A jury verdict of more than $16 million was recently upheld for a couple whose baby died during delivery at a California Hospital in November 2004.

The jury found that Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women and two of its doctors were negligent in their treatment of the mother, Teresa Bailey.  Jurors also determined that Dr. Arturo Mendoza, the director of pathology, committed fraud by making a false representation of fact to the baby's mother. The couple accused the doctor of concealing the baby's true cause of death on an autopsy report.  Attorneys for the couple said that the couple were told their baby died of lung disease when, in fact, the infant died of asphyxia. The boy became stuck in the birth canal, and his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. - 46 - 50

A 45-year-old rancher won $6 million this week in a medical malpractice lawsuit against a physician.  The jury compensated  Antonio Richardson $4.1 million in special damages and $2 million in general damages against physician Arnold Seid.  According to court records, Richardson went to Seid in 2001, when tests for health insurance showed signs of kidney disease. For two years, Seid treated Richardson for high blood pressure, ignoring test results indicating kidney disease.  the doctor eventually referred him to a specialist, but by then his kidneys were already dead.  An expert witness said Richardson should have been referred to a kidney specialist in 2001. Another witness said his kidney problems, if treated, could have been delayed or prevented.  Richardson suffered catastrophic injury to his health and business. The verdicit will pay for his ongoing medical expenses and lost wages.

The elderly fear breaking a hip when they fall, but a government study indicates that hitting their head can also have deadly consequences: Brain injuries account for half of all deaths from falls.

The child of a 94 year old nursing home patient who was hit by a car in November after she wandered away from a nursing home has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the facility. The lawsuit alleges that the nursing home failed to “supervise and ensure the safety” of Maria Cobian, resulting in her death.  Ms. Cobian was walking in a traffic lane a few hundred yards from the nursing home when she was struck and killed by a car.

Actor Dennis Quaid told Congress on Wednesday that taking away the right to sue pharmaceutical companies would turn consumers into "uninformed and uncompensated lab rats."

Quaid's comments came as he described a harrowing, near-fatal drug mix-up in which his newborn twins received 1,000 times the correct dose of the blood thinner heparin.

The actor said his family's brush with tragedy underscores the need to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable through lawsuits. That remedy is becoming increasingly problematic for injured consumers.

The drug maker, Baxter Healthcare Corp., said it regrets that a product intended to save and sustain life was at the center of a medication error.

Beginning with the Bush administration, the Food and Drug Administration has stepped into suits on the side of defendant pharmaceutical companies, arguing that federal regulation of drugs pre-empts state suits.

"The regulatory cop is off the beat," Georgetown University law professor David Vladeck told the House Reform and Government Oversight Committee.

The issue of federal pre-emption of suits against the drug industry will come before the Supreme Court this year in a case from Vermont.

Some 7,000 people in the United States die every year from medication errors.

The Quaid family is suing Baxter Healthcare, which is seeking dismissal of the case on grounds that the FDA approved the labeling.

"Like many Americans, I believed that a big problem in our country was frivolous lawsuits," Quaid testified. "But now I know that the courts are often the only path to justice."

The committee's top Republican, Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, sympathized with Quaid, saying that if this had happened to the Davis family, "I'd be suing everybody in sight." Apart from Quaid's case, Davis urged a middle ground between total pre-emption and unrestrained litigation.