Subject:  THIS is where he's been.... $17 mil award against hospital |
Author:
Chris
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Date Posted: 03/29/06 7:25pm
In reply to:
Diane
's message, "Re: Geoff on GVS tonight" on 03/28/06 10:16pm
Couple wins $17 million award against hospital
By Jennifer Harr, Herald-Standard
03/29/2006
WASHINGTON, Pa. - Mark and Lori Pochron had tried for 11 years to have children, so the Rices Landing couple were thrilled when Lori found out she was pregnant.
Mark Pochron said his wife's obstetrician, Dr. Louise Van Riper, assured them that making the 20-minute commute from their Greene County home to Monongalia General Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va., would be a safe option. The hospital had a modern birthing center, Mark Pochron said, and his wife had seen Van Riper throughout her pregnancy.
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But civil jurors in West Virginia found that neither Van Riper nor hospital personnel did what they should have to ensure the health of the Pochrons' daughter, Marissa.
The panel awarded the Pochrons $17 million on Monday, money that will go toward Marissa's lifelong care, her parents said.
The 9-year-old suffered permanent brain damage from a lack of oxygen as her mother was in labor and directly after her birth, and lives with cerebral palsy, cortical blindness and cognitive disabilities that will affect her for the rest of her life.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Michigan attorney Geoffrey Fieger said that hospital personnel ignored a beeping fetal monitor that should have alerted them that Marissa was in distress while her mother was in labor. Instead, Fieger said, a nurse shut off the monitor and told Mark Pochron to monitor his wife's contractions under the auspices of getting him involved in the birth. Van Riper came and went, not spending enough time with her patient to know what was going on, he said.
An emergency cesarean section (C-section) was performed nine hours after it was apparent that Marissa was experiencing fetal distress, Fieger said.
After her June 7, 1996, birth, Marissa was left with her parents in their room, Fieger said. Her mother, Lori, rolled over and saw her child blue a short time later, and Mark Pochron alerted the medical staff, Fieger said.
"And then, the records are non-existent for four hours," he said. "It's just unbelievable this would happen in America. The experts said this wouldn't be acceptable in the battlefields of Iraq."
Marissa was eventually transferred to Ruby Memorial Hospital, also in Morgantown, where she stayed for two weeks. Her father, Mark, said he and his wife wondered what went wrong.
"The damage Marissa suffered was 100 percent preventable," Fieger said.
He said his experts found that the sole cause of the child's maladies was the lack of oxygen to her brain, which could have been avoided if a C-section had been done sooner. The $17 million award, said Fieger, is likely the largest ever in West Virginia history.
Fieger said he got involved in the case after Mark Pochron contacted him. Pochron said he saw news accounts about a substantial medical malpractice verdict that Fieger won in Washington County Court and decided to contact him.
Fieger worked with attorneys at the Washington firm of Bassi, McCune and Vreeland, where the press conference was held.
On June 16, 1996, which was both Father's Day and Mark Pochron's birthday, he said he finally got to bottle feed his firstborn.
"It was a miracle," he said.
Even after Marissa came home, Mark Pochron said he and his wife initially slept in shifts so one of them could watch the baby to make sure she didn't stop breathing.
Lori Pochron said it was difficult to hear what happened to her daughter in the hours after her birth during the five-week trial, but she had a sense of relief knowing that Marissa would be taken care of properly.
Her father said Marissa's days are as regular as they can be. She needs to be carried down the steps of the family's home, and helped with even her most basic needs, but Marissa also attends the third grade in the Jefferson-Morgan School District.
While she was in a wheelchair during the press conference, Marissa has a walker and arm crutches that she sometimes uses to get around, Mark Pochron said.
"She's the best little girl anyone can wish for - kind, considerate, always remembers others," he said.
As Marissa gets older, Mark Pochron said they've had to explain to her that she can't do the same things other children can - there will be no roller-skating or soccer, he said.
Marissa sat with her parents during Tuesday's press conference, holding her mother's hand, occasionally leaning over to whisper something. She said little and held a small horse toy in her hands, her blue eyes sparkling and her smile warm and sincere. Her father said she testified briefly during the trial, and came on some days.
Pochron operates his family's Dry Tavern True Value hardware store, and his wife does the books for the business. Because of her daughter's disabilities, Lori Pochron's time is limited because in the mornings, after school and on weekends she must be with Marissa at all times, he said.
The Pochrons never had the means to hire a caretaker for their daughter. This award will make that possible, Mark Pochron said. He said he and his wife also are comforted that their daughter always will be taken care of properly.
Mark Pochron said he would give anything to have his daughter healthy, but said that knowing that she will be taken care of for the rest of her life gives the family peace of mind.
"Money can only take you so far, but she is a gift from God," Mark Pochron said.
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