News

THE HERALD, Wednesday, April 12, 1995
Local - Broward

"House panel: Boy, 11, owed lifetime care"

by Steve Bousquet

Eleven-year-old Justin Bates, permanently brain-damaged by a Broward hospital's medical mistakes, won a round Tuesday in Tallahassee when a House panel ordered the hospital to pay for his care for the rest of his life.

At an emotionally charge hearing, the House Claims Committee directed the North Broward Hospital District to spend up to $4.2 million. That includes a $3 million insurance policy so Justin can leave Broward General Center, his home for a decade, and live with his family in Coral Springs.

The amount is less than the $8.6 million that a Broward jury had recommended five years ago. But lawmakers also ordered payment of $500,000 in pain and suffering damages to Justin's mother, and about $520,000 for special medical equipment renovations to the family home, a van and other needs. The panel omitted the recommendation by its legal expert that the hospital pay $253,000 in fees to the family's lawyer, Sheldon Schlesinger.

"Let the money de dedicated to the child," said Rep. Sally Heyman, D-North Miami Beach, who sponsored the compromise.

The tax-supported hospital district has admitted that it was t fault but has refused to pay, claiming immunity under a law that protects governments from liability damage awards of more than $200,000. The district has killed claims bills the previous two years, but the case has continued to attract national attention, most of it unflattering to the hospital district.

Controversy continued Tuesday. The bill approved by the committee includes purchase of an annuity or long-term insurance policy, to pay for Justin's at-home care, estimated at $240,000 a year.

The hospital district will buy the care in part with money previously awarded to the Bates family as part of a settlement with doctors in the case. The money remains frozen because the hospital district has put a lien on the amount for $1.5 million the family owed the hospital at the time the jury issued its verdict five years ago. In addition, when Justin dies, money left in the annuity will go back to the hospital district to pay for medical care of poor children in Broward General's neonatal unit.

Schlesinger, called the arrangement "unfair" and accused the hospital district of "double-dipping" at the family's expense. But hospital district lawyer Tom Panza said Schlesinger himself made those unpaid medical bills an issue when he introduced them at the trial.

The 9-1 vote - with Rep. Tom Warner, R-Stuart, dissenting -- send s the bill to the full House for approval, but the issue is far from settled. Bates' advocate in the Senate, Coral Springs Democrat Peter Weinstein, says the house bill is unfair to the family. "The bill is not acceptable." He said, "and we'll keep coming back till we get it right.

Sheldon J. Schlesinger, P.A. represents clients throughout the state of Florida including the cities of Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Carol City, Cooper City, Coral Gables, Coral Springs, Davie, Deerfield Beach, Delray Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Hialeah, Hollywood, Jupiter, Lake Worth, Miramar, Miami, Oakland Park, Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Palm Springs, Pompano Beach, and Rivera Beach

Broward County • Miami-Dade County • Palm Beach County