THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 15, 1995 TAG: 9509150512
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
DePaul Medical Center has agreed to pay an undisclosed amount of money to the mother of a 4-day-old baby who died from an accidental overdose of potassium.
The exact amount of the settlement was confidential. It was approved Wednesday in Norfolk Circuit Court, as a final settlement to a medical malpractice lawsuit filed last year.
The baby's mother, who was 17 when the baby was born last year, had sought $5 million in the lawsuit.
``No amount of money can ever bring back the life of a lost child,'' said Andrew M. Sacks, the mother's attorney. ``However, through this settlement, an effort has been made to give the mother the means to recover her life and her hopes for the future.
The settlement amount is confidential ``because the mother is quite young and she has suffered some extreme emotional anguish over the death of her child,'' Sacks said.
In a statement last year responding to the lawsuit, DePaul acknowledged that ``a serious event occurred on March 10, 1994'' and the hospital ``has taken appropriate steps to respond to the situation.''
On Thursday, DePaul issued another two-sentence statement: ``A settlement has been reached which is acceptable to all parties involved. We express our sincere sympathy to the family.''
According to the lawsuit, the baby boy was born March 6, 1994, about 1 1/2 months premature but with no significant abnormalities. In the intensive care nursery, a doctor prescribed potassium chloride, which helps muscle function but can be toxic in high doses. It was administered by an intravenous feeding tube through the baby's belly button.
The baby died of cardiac arrest. An autopsy found that hyperkalemia, or too much potassium, was the immediate cause of death, the lawsuit states. Blood analysis showed the baby had a potassium level nearly four times the normal level, the lawsuit says.
DePaul fired a pharmacy technician/assistant the day after the baby died because she had improperly prepared and delivered the lethal dosage, the lawsuit states.
This was the second lawsuit in the past two years claiming a fatal overdose of potassium in a Norfolk hospital. In 1993, a similar lawsuit was filed against Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in the death of a 66-year-old woman. That case was settled in August for $750,000.
KEYWORDS: LAWSUIT SETTLEMENT MEDICAL MALPRACTICE by CNB