Subject:  Preemie set afire is focus of lawsuit |
Author:
Chris
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Date Posted: 10/27/04 5:36pm
Good God, NEVER to into a hospital in or around Detroit!
Preemie set afire is focus of lawsuit
Hospital says boy's problems weren't caused by accident
October 27, 2004
BY L.L. BRASIER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Nathan Laporte was 11 weeks old, a tiny preemie in an oxygen tent in the intensive care unit at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, when a doctor set him on fire during a routine cauterization. His face, arm, neck and leg were burned.
His parents contend he also suffered severe damage to his lungs from inhaling smoke and flames.
Not so, the hospital says. While admitting that Nathan's burns resulted from the fire, the hospital insists his damaged lungs were the result of his early birth.
The question of just how seriously Nathan was injured in the October 1997 fire will go to a jury in January after more than five years of legal wrangling between the Laportes and the hospital and stalled negotiations over a settlement. Nathan, now 7, remains on a ventilator and has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and mental retardation. He still carries scars from the burns, and his parents say he requires round-the-clock care.
On Tuesday, attorneys on both sides argued in Oakland County Circuit Court over what should be admitted as evidence in what will likely be a long, emotional trial, set to begin Jan. 3 before Judge Gene Schnelz. Nathan, one of a set of quadruplets born to Craig and Shelley Laporte of Macomb Township in July 1997, is expected to require lifelong care. Schnelz plans to hold hearings in the next months to determine what expert medical testimony will be allowed.
Hospital attorneys hope to convince jurors that Nathan's disabilities are the result of his premature birth and that, regardless of the fire, Nathan would have had serious, ongoing medical difficulties.
"The hospital's position is the same now as it has always been, that this was an unfortunate accident that resulted in surface burns to Nathan. The hospital has always accepted responsibilities for those burns," Keefe Brooks, an attorney with the Detroit law firm of Butzel Long, representing Beaumont, said Tuesday. "Nathan's other medical difficulties ... are strictly the result of his extreme prematurity and low birth weight and the complications that ensued."
The Laportes' attorneys dispute that and say they will present medical testimony that the fire severely exacerbated medical conditions Nathan had as a result of the premature birth. They note that his three siblings went home two or three months later but that Nathan stayed hospitalized for another year and a half.
"Here's a news flash: When you set a baby on fire, you're going to harm him," said Ven Johnson of the Fieger, Fieger, Kenney & Johnson firm in Southfield. Johnson said Nathan will require millions of dollars in care over his lifetime. "This child was significantly harmed."
Contact L.L. BRASIER at 248-858-2262 or brasier@freepress.com.
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