Hospital pays $8.7M settlement
Saturday, July 31, 1999
Premature baby was abandoned with dead foetuses
National Post
VANCOUVER - A legal battle involving a child with brain damage who was left to die in a hospital room with dead foetuses has ended with a financial settlement of $8.7-million, possibly the largest such payment in Canadian history.
The child's adoptive mother, Margaret Renaerts, and her child had sued Vancouver General Hospital, a doctor and several nurses after the baby, Ximena, was born prematurely and left for 40 minutes before being resuscitated.
Ximena's natural mother, Nadine Bourne, then 22, had been admitted to Vancouver General on Dec. 16, 1985, after suffering complications from an incomplete abortion at a Bellingham, Wash., clinic three days earlier.
She was scheduled for a "dilation and curettage" the next morning to remove what remained in her womb, but gave birth at 3 a.m. to Ximena in a bedpan. The foetus had been aborted at 26 weeks and weighed less than two pounds.
Despite the baby crying and gasping for air, a nurse left the baby to die in a room used to store dead foetuses. The hospital's supervising nurse came on the scene 40 minutes later and ordered a Code Blue -- an emergency resuscitation of the baby.
Thomas Berger, a former B.C. Supreme Court judge who has returned to practising law, had argued that the hospital was negligent for failing to keep Ximena warm, clear her airway and provide oxygen, which caused the baby to suffer brain damage.
An out-of-court settlement was reached last year, but only became public this week when the judgment containing details of the settlement was released at the Vancouver Law Courts.
Although the hospital had requested it remain sealed, the judge found that to seal the settlement portion of the court file would defeat the intent of legislation concerning infant settlements.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Paul Williamson said in his 29-page written judgment, released this week it was "the highest settlement ever achieved in a case of this kind."
"The legislature intended, in my view, that infant settlements would be open to public scrutiny in order that the public may be assured that the best interests of infant plaintiffs have been reasonably protected," the judge noted.
The settlement had been reached two days before a 20-day trial was set to begin. It totalled $8-million plus $500,000 for costs and almost $200,000 for disbursements.
About $3-million was placed in a structured settlement to provide $10,000 a month for the infant, who has severe cerebral palsy and requires 24-hour care. She will also get $100,000 a year for a five-year period beginning in 2003.
At the time the previously confidential settlement was reached last year, Ms. Renaerts called it a bittersweet victory for Ximena, whom Ms. Renaerts and her husband adopted six years ago after the child had been in a number of foster homes.
"It's wonderful we reached a settlement, but Ximena is still living with a disabled body," she said. "No one can buy or pay for good health."
Ximena, now 12, is severely physically disabled and mentally handicapped.
She is confined to a wheelchair, can talk and crawl but has a mental age of a 3-year-old.
Ms. Renaerts, having heard rumours of the circumstances of the child's birth, initially spoke to a lawyer, Charles Lugosi, in 1992. Two years later, Mr. Lugosi retained Mr. Berger's law firm to help investigate and prosecute the civil lawsuit that was filed.
The judge noted the investigation by lawyers "was most difficult and time- consuming, given the less than forthcoming attitude of the hospital."
He concluded that because of the magnitude of the numbers, $1.8 million would be a reasonable fee for the lawyers acting for the plaintiff.
It was estimated that the time devoted to the case was worth $835,000 and almost $200,000 was spent on other costs, including flying to Spain to do an examination for discovery of one of the defendants, who had moved overseas and refused to return to Canada.
The hospital declined comment yesterday.
Premature baby was abandoned with dead foetuses
National Post
VANCOUVER - A legal battle involving a child with brain damage who was left to die in a hospital room with dead foetuses has ended with a financial settlement of $8.7-million, possibly the largest such payment in Canadian history.
The child's adoptive mother, Margaret Renaerts, and her child had sued Vancouver General Hospital, a doctor and several nurses after the baby, Ximena, was born prematurely and left for 40 minutes before being resuscitated.
Ximena's natural mother, Nadine Bourne, then 22, had been admitted to Vancouver General on Dec. 16, 1985, after suffering complications from an incomplete abortion at a Bellingham, Wash., clinic three days earlier.
She was scheduled for a "dilation and curettage" the next morning to remove what remained in her womb, but gave birth at 3 a.m. to Ximena in a bedpan. The foetus had been aborted at 26 weeks and weighed less than two pounds.
Despite the baby crying and gasping for air, a nurse left the baby to die in a room used to store dead foetuses. The hospital's supervising nurse came on the scene 40 minutes later and ordered a Code Blue -- an emergency resuscitation of the baby.
Thomas Berger, a former B.C. Supreme Court judge who has returned to practising law, had argued that the hospital was negligent for failing to keep Ximena warm, clear her airway and provide oxygen, which caused the baby to suffer brain damage.
An out-of-court settlement was reached last year, but only became public this week when the judgment containing details of the settlement was released at the Vancouver Law Courts.
Although the hospital had requested it remain sealed, the judge found that to seal the settlement portion of the court file would defeat the intent of legislation concerning infant settlements.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Paul Williamson said in his 29-page written judgment, released this week it was "the highest settlement ever achieved in a case of this kind."
"The legislature intended, in my view, that infant settlements would be open to public scrutiny in order that the public may be assured that the best interests of infant plaintiffs have been reasonably protected," the judge noted.
The settlement had been reached two days before a 20-day trial was set to begin. It totalled $8-million plus $500,000 for costs and almost $200,000 for disbursements.
About $3-million was placed in a structured settlement to provide $10,000 a month for the infant, who has severe cerebral palsy and requires 24-hour care. She will also get $100,000 a year for a five-year period beginning in 2003.
At the time the previously confidential settlement was reached last year, Ms. Renaerts called it a bittersweet victory for Ximena, whom Ms. Renaerts and her husband adopted six years ago after the child had been in a number of foster homes.
"It's wonderful we reached a settlement, but Ximena is still living with a disabled body," she said. "No one can buy or pay for good health."
Ximena, now 12, is severely physically disabled and mentally handicapped.
She is confined to a wheelchair, can talk and crawl but has a mental age of a 3-year-old.
Ms. Renaerts, having heard rumours of the circumstances of the child's birth, initially spoke to a lawyer, Charles Lugosi, in 1992. Two years later, Mr. Lugosi retained Mr. Berger's law firm to help investigate and prosecute the civil lawsuit that was filed.
The judge noted the investigation by lawyers "was most difficult and time- consuming, given the less than forthcoming attitude of the hospital."
He concluded that because of the magnitude of the numbers, $1.8 million would be a reasonable fee for the lawyers acting for the plaintiff.
It was estimated that the time devoted to the case was worth $835,000 and almost $200,000 was spent on other costs, including flying to Spain to do an examination for discovery of one of the defendants, who had moved overseas and refused to return to Canada.
The hospital declined comment yesterday.
Labels: Vancouver General Hospital
posted by Ted Gerk @ 1:30 PM
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