Once upon a time I was a hard working nurse-midwife in a private practice with my OB/GYN husband. We lived a very hectic life delivering babies, performing GYN surgeries and seeing 80-100 patients in the office EVERYDAY. This was heaven for us and we LOVED every moment. Our patients were our family.
 On 9/11 between the falling of the two towers my husband performed a C-section. Everyone was terribly upset and crying. Several of the operating room staff had relatives in the towers. The circulating nurse ( the one who counts the sponges) was the most upset. She MISCOUNTED the sponges used by the scrub tech to keep the surgical site clean for my husband ( the surgeon). A sponge was LEFT inside. This was the nurses mistake, and she admitted it during a deposition.
 Screw job #2, the patient was readmitted to the hospital by my husband after she came to our office and I wheeled her to the ER. The hospital beds were all full so this was the way to get her at least "into" a bed ASAP.  My husband gave orders for her. The ER doctor decided "on his own" since he was NOT on the case and should NOT have ordered anything for her, to order an x-ray. EXCEPT he did NOT write an order, he verbalized an order to a random ER nurse who DID NOT write the order ANYWHERE either. My husband was NEVER notified the xray was performed or even ordered.
Screw job # 3 The radiologist who performed the x-ray DID NOT CALL ANYONE or even send the result to anyone that a "foreign body" was found!!!!!! The results were NEVER put on the chart as no one even knew it existed!!!After two days and numerous other scan tests and other doctors consulting on the case my husband ordered an xray. Bingo the sponge was found and he immediately removed it. It had not ruptured but was an encased ball. She left the hospital a few days later and never ever had any pain or problems.
Screw job # 4 The insurance company made the bonehead decision to hire the same attorney for the hospital AND my husband ( after she filed a suit). My husband was advised HE had to admit liability even though the hospital admitted 100% liability (due to the OR nurse and radiologists screw ups). I have a letter from the hospital stating this admission!! The lawyer did not want my husband pointing fingers at the people at fault so he forced my husband to admit liability also ( BIG MISTAKE!!!).
Screw job #5 This is a PUBLIC hospital so she could only get $85,000 from them and they gave it to her.
That made my husband the DEEP POCKET!! OHHHH lets sue the doctor with the big malpractice policy! Great idea...
Screw job #6 The company who owns our practice has an attorney that is so egocentric air revolves around him.
We begged our lawyers to just settle the case ASAP. The practice attorney was in charge of deciding whether or not to settle the case and for how much. He got into a "pissing match" (his exact words!!) with her attorney. That means he was playing hardball with them because of his OWN EGO. He never told us of any settlement offers.
Turns out he was offered $250,000 ( we have a million dollar policy) but he ignored it!! He didn't feel like paying, except he was messing with OUR lives not his!
Screw job # 7 So no settlement and now 6 years later we are going to trial. The day before the trial our attorneys call us on a Sunday as they "prepare" for tommorrows case. We spent 10 hours talking to them and sending them facts on HOW TO present the facts and all the things that are LIES. They did not listen to a darn thing we advised them. We are medical professionals, not them!
Screw job # 8 The trial starts and it is HORRIBLE!! We are told by our attorneys that they CANNOT tell the jurors anything about the ER doctors mistake, the OR nurses mistake, OR the radiologists mistake!! OMG. He refused to even explain to the jury HOW people work in the operating room ( the nurse counts the sponges).
Screw job # 9 The jury is made up of "her" peers. One of the jurors even is a photograper for her attorney!! OMG
Screw job # 10 The expert witness are "Chicago Razzle Dazzle" professionals. What a story full of lies they told. They claim she cannot have cany more kids BUT she admitted to HATING sex and has NEVER been in a long relationship. The baby daddy left her after she told him she was pregnant! She didnt even have sex for FIVE 1/2 YEARS after this baby!!! She hates MEN!! Now she suddenly CLAIMs she has a boyfriend ( who is no where to be found) and see him 2-3 times per week. Her doctors ( non-paid by lawyers) said ther is NO reason why she cannot have more kids if she actually TRIES!! She had NO INFERTILITY testing ever!! This is the biggest bullshit of all. She fake crys on the stand and the jury buys into it. Not one of her SIX non-lawyer paid doctors she has seen over the past 6 years said she has ANY problems what so ever. No pain, no problems ever complained. Everyone of them said she is perfectly healthy for a 37 yo.
Screw job #11 The jury buys into all the lies and awards her THREE MILLION DOLLARS!!!! This is a RECORD award for a sponge left in. The last case one month earlier was for a man who shits into a BAG because of a sponge left inside and he only got 1.2 million!!! This woman has never missed one day of work OR ever taken even a Tylenol for any reason!!!
Screw job # 12 The insurance company has told us they used up all the insurance money in the "pool" for other cases and we do not get even ONE DOLLAR to help pay this OUTRAGEOUS award.
Screw job # 13 The judge is BUDDIES with her attorney!! They chitchat and laugh between breaks during the trail. Any time our attorney objects he denies it 100% of the time!
Screw job #14 We make a motion for a new trial or to at least make the crazy award more reasonable. The judge denies both and LAUGHS while telling us he wants to make it MORE!!!!!! OMG
Screw job # 15 Our attorneys should NEVER have been representing the hosptal at the same time and "sold us down the river" to protect the hospital.
Screw job # 16 No "bond" to pay this award will be posted by the insurance company so the other attorney is going to come after our HARD EARNED money to pay this ourageous award!! OMG They can tow my cars away while I'm in the grocery store and come into my house and haul off everything. They may force us into bankrupcy and make us lose all of our assets.
 I cry everyday. I am so depressed I want to leave this world. I have no faith in our justice system. This woman is not even an AMERICAN CITIZEN. She has lived here for 30 years without bothering to become a citizen. We worked 100 hours a week for 20 years. This is cruel punishment for something he didn't even do!!!!! This is not fair. We were told we cannot even sue the insurnce company for two years until an appeal is "heard" and if it is denied THEN we can sue the insurance company. In the meanwhile they are going to take everything. We are NOT rich!! My husband lost 2/3 of what he was worth during a divorce many years ago. And then he got injured and disabled 4 years ago. What we have has to last 30 more years!! The judge is a snotty friend of her attorney who seeks to make a name for himself. All our good deeds during our lifetime are nothing. The lives we saved, the babies we safely brought into the world. The cancers my husband cured. NOTHING MATTERS.