Family awarded $4.3 million in suit against doctors
Jury rules doctors misdiagnosed baby's virus
By Joel Marino
South Florida Sun Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE - Doctors told the parents of newborn
Haylee Kroll not to worry when large bruises appeared on her tiny
body. Then the baby's skin turned yellow, her liver showed signs
of scarring and a blood clot formed in her brain. A few days later,
her parents were advised to make funeral arrangements.
"They'd tell us different things every day,"
said Cynthia Kroll, 35, Haylee's mother. "It was a roller-coaster
ride."
Haylee survived, but her parents say doctors at Coral
Springs Medical Center misdiagnosed the virus that struck their
baby soon after her April 21, 1994 birth, leaving her with lifelong
disabilities. Now 15, Haylee has severe vision problems and permanent
cirrhosis of the liver.
Last Wednesday, a six-member Broward Circuit Court
jury awarded the family $4.3 million in a medical malpractice suit
against Sedigheh Zolfaghari and Jose Colindres, two of the doctors
who treated Haylee. The jury found two other doctors, Greg Melnick
and Manuel Ortega, not liable. Coral Springs Medical Center was
not named in the lawsuit.
Colindres is still working at the medical center,
but Zolfaghari is not, according to hospital officials. The doctors
could not be reached for comment Friday.
Because of scheduling issues, the lawsuit had been
often delayed since it was filed in 1996. The case ended in a mistrial
in 2007, before going to court again in August.
Once Haylee got sick, the doctors ignored symptoms
that pointed to an enterovirus, a usually mild illness that can
become deadly in infants without a developed immune system. The
doctors also failed to take blood and liver tests that would have
quickly identified the virus, said Linda Alley, one of the attorneys
who represented the Krolls.
The blood clot damaged parts of Haylee's brain, leaving
her with a learning disability that affects her school work.
But despite lackluster grades, Haylee, now a 10th-grader
at Deerfield Beach High, said she doesn't want tutors or special
classes.
But despite lackluster grades, Haylee, now a 10th-grader
at Deerfield Beach High, said she doesn't want tutors or special
classes.
"I'm a normal girl. I don't want anything special,
I just want to be normal," she said Friday.
She has a "bittersweet" relationship with
her sister, Taylor, 11, and hopes to become a pharmacist. Just a
few close friends know about the illness and she recently saw her
baby pictures for the first time.
And she still grimaces at the yellow-tinged, heavily
bruised baby the photos depict.
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
