Blindness / Radiation Overdose

D.S. vs University

Our client was a young girl with an aggressive cancer and only a few years left to live. Her parents took terrific care of her. She went to a large hospital for chemotherapy. When the doctor wrote down the chemotherapy prescription, he put the decimal point in the wrong place. She received ten times the appropriate dose of a very dangerous drug. She was blinded as a result. Since California limits damages for suffering, the defendants offered only a nominal amount. They told us the child was going to die soon anyway.

Everyone on our staff was offended. We felt that this child deserved the best quality of life she could get during her few remaining years. We pushed the court to obtain a very early trial date and the defendant reluctantly admitted what they had done to her. We arranged to have a new doctor take over her care. The defendants eventually paid triple their prior offer and formally admitted their mistake.