Jury awards $43 million to woman with CP in 20-year-old case against NY hospital

From The Business Review in Albany, N.Y.:

A Saratoga County jury delivered a $43 million verdict against a former area hospital on Oct. 8, in what’s believed to be the largest personal injury award in the region’s history.

The case pitted the former Bellevue Hospital, of Niskayuna, against Tiffany Busone, a 25-year-old woman born at the ex-hospital. Attorneys for Busone argued that she suffered injuries during her birth because hospital staff failed to follow proper protocol when resuscitating and intubating her.

Busone has cerebral palsy and brain damage that occurred because she was deprived of sufficient oxygen shortly after her birth, her attorneys argued. As a result, attorneys said, Busone is confined to a wheelchair and will require full-time home health aides for as long as she lives.

Stephen Coffey, of O’Connell & Aronowitz PC in Albany, was an attorney working Busone’s case.

“I’m absolutely certain it’s the largest [personal injury verdict] in this area. But who cares where you are—it’s an enormous verdict,” Coffey said.

In August, Coffey won an $11 million verdict in a separate personal injury case.

“I never thought I’d say I got a ruling that dwarfed that,” he said.

Of the $43 million due to Busone, $20 million is funding to pay for home health aides. Another $15 million compensates for future suffering, while $6 million covers past suffering. The balance covers medical expenses and loss of earnings.

The question, though, is where the money will come from.

Bellevue Woman’s Hospital used to be a for-profit hospital, but the Jorgensen family sold it to a nonprofit corporation in 2001. The state then forced Bellevue to merge with Ellis Hospital, a move that was finalized in late 2007.

“That does not extinguish the debt Bellevue owes,” Coffey said.

At the time, Bellevue was required to pay $4.3 million to get malpractice “tail” insurance, to cover claims arising from services Bellevue had provided in the past.

Today, Bellevue no longer exists. Ellis provides the services that Bellevue once did, still using the Bellevue name.

“We were not a party to this case,” said Donna Evans, a spokeswoman for Ellis. “We had no affiliation with that organization at that time. That was a separate corporation going back many years ago. We had no involvement.”

Attempts to reach Jack Phelan, an Albany attorney who represented Bellevue during the trial, were unsuccessful.

It is unclear whether Bellevue will appeal the decision. If there is an appeal, state law mandates that 9 percent annual, compounded interest be charged on the hospital’s insurance coverage, Coffey said.

Outside of the insurance policy, Coffey is not yet sure what other assets exist to pay the verdict.

“We’ve just started checking that out,” he said. “They’ll absolutely end up paying their insurance policy in this case, no question about it.”