Local Law Firms Home > Medical Malpractice News > Louisiana Woman Gets Award in Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

Louisiana Woman Gets $24.2M Award in Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

Tyronglia Willis, of Springhill, La., has won a $24.2 million jury award in a medical malpractice lawsuit she filed on behalf of her son who suffered irreversible brain damage during heart surgery due to a faulty infusion pump.
Ty'Kevion Kidd was 3-years-old when he had to be brought in for corrective surgery to the Ochsner Clinic Foundation in March 2005 for a congenital heart defect. During the surgery, an infusion pump malfunctioned and pumped epinephrine, an adrenaline drug, straight into the child and triggered a cardiac arrest.

Ty'Kevion Kidd, now nine years old, was brought into the court during the trial so that jurors and the court could see the impact of the malfunctioning pump manufactured by Abbott Laboratories and Hospira, Inc.

After a trial that lasted a week, jurors only had to deliberate for an hour to come back with a verdict. They had decided to give Ty'Kevion Kidd $24.2 million in damages. Out of this amount, $20 million is for future medical expenses. The jury also specified that Abbott Laboratories and Hospira Inc. should be held responsible for 65 percent of the award, with the rest to be paid by the Ochsner Clinic Foundation.

Despite the jury’s decision to lay 65 percent of the blame with the manufacturers, they may have gotten away for less because they had already settled with the plaintiff for an undisclosed amount prior to the jury’s decision. Both companies, which are now separate entities, had already been dismissed as defendants from the lawsuit, and so was Richard Breland, the Hospira service representative.  

The Ochsner Clinic had admitted liability in 2007 and paid the state cap on medical malpractice lawsuits of $100,000. This left the Louisiana Patients Compensation Fund holding the bag to pay the remaining 35 percent of the jury award, or $8 million. The fund’s board is planning to file an appeal against the decision.