Attorneys with the personal injury law firm of
Sheldon J. Schlesinger P.A., won a
$14 million jury verdict on behalf of a local father and optometrist left bed-ridden and paralyzed resulting from a botched, unnecessary procedure seven years ago.
According to the suit, heard by Judge Charles Green in Broward County Circuit Court, Francis Ziadie was suffering dizziness and slurred speech when he arrived at the emergency room at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood in May 2002. Doctors there gave him aspirin and the anti-platelet medication, Plavix. His symptoms subsided on medical therapy. Ziadie was admitted overnight for observation.
The next morning, Ziadie complained of short-term slurred speech and numbness in his hand. A CAT scan and magnetic resonance angiography showed no evidence of a stroke. Doctors diagnosed transient ischemic attacks caused by left internal carotid artery dissection, or a separation of the inner layer of the carotid artery. The aspirin / Plavix regimen is considered standard of care, as in most cases, the dissection will heal itself within three to six months, said Crane Johnstone, Ziadie's lead trial attorney from Schlesinger Law Firm in Fort Lauderdale. Valerie Conzo was co-counsel on the case.
Hoang Dinh Doung, M.D., an interventional neuroradiologist from Radiology Associates of Hollywood, P.A. was consulted. Doung recommended an immediate procedure to insert a stent into the artery. During the procedure, Doung punctured the arterial wall. Because Ziadie was on large doses of blood thinners, blood flowed from the puncture, pooling around his brain. In the recovery room, Ziadie had slurred speech and right-sided weakness. Instead of addressing his problems, nurses sedated him. By the time doctors realized the problem hours later, the bleeding had caused massive pressure damage to the brain stem and caustic damage to brain tissue. Ziadie, at one time an active 46-year-old optician and father of four, was discharged almost three months later after extensive rehab. Today, he spends his days in a hospital bed and wheelchair in the home of his 76-year-old mother, Olivia, who cares for him round-the-clock.
"The jury realized that this was a preventable injury, and that Mr. Ziadie should never have undergone that procedure," Johnstone said. "His legs are paralyzed, he has no bowel or bladder control. He struggles to string sentences together. He can't even get out of bed or feed himself."
Defense counsel from Bunnell, Woulfe claimed Mr. Ziadie suffered from a rare "reperfusion injury." Another defendant, David M. Feldbaum, MD, a surgeon who was part of the team treating Mr. Ziadie, was found not liable.
The five-man, one-woman jury didn't buy Dr. Duong's argument, and returned a verdict in under six hours. In determining damages, the jury found that Ziadie, now 53, will require skilled nursing care for the rest of his life. Johnstone also argued successfully that the best care will be provided to Mr. Ziadie in his home, as opposed to a nursing facility. The jury awarded $5 million to Mr. Ziadie for his future care needs, and $8 million for pain, suffering and mental anguish. Francis Ziadie's minor sons were each awarded $250,000.
SOURCE Boardroom Communications
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