LAWSUIT: Pennsylvania Jury Awards $5.6M to Parents of Brain Damaged Child After Botched Birth and Invasion of Privacy
The lawsuit was initially filed in 2020 by the parents of the now 6-year-old girl - Alexandra Wolfson and Jason Hoffman - in the Court of Common Pleas Philadelphia County against midwife Anne Pitts Londergan, CNM, and Albert Einstein Medical Center, among others. The case number is 200700471.
The jury issued its verdict on June 27, finding Londergan, Einstein and others liable for negligence, invasion of privacy and breach of confidentiality.
"Although nothing can ever undo the negligence this child suffered, this was a landmark ruling by the jury ensuring that patient privacy is always protected," said plaintiffs' attorney Tom Bosworth.
"We're so grateful the jury acknowledged all that our daughter has gone through since the day she was born. Our daughter suffers from permanent birth injuries due to negligence, and, to make matters worse, her privacy was violated by someone we should have been able to trust," added mother Alexandra Wolfson.
According to the complaint, after the botched birth, Londergan, the midwife who delivered the child, traumatized the parents even further by violating their privacy after she posted a picture of the newborn's misshapen head on her personal Instagram page with the headline, "Jellybean head, courtesy of malpresentation (brow and OP)," along with additional personal information about the birth that elicited numerous inappropriate comments such as "Poor kid! Window? and "Mack truck pelvis?" and "Oh ouch.. poor baby."
Londergan's unauthorized reference to "malpresentation (brow and OP)" refers to two separate abnormalities that can occur during birth with the presentation - i.e. position - of the fetus during the birth process.
None of the healthcare providers detected either the brow or OP positioning abnormalities during the labor and delivery, according to the lawsuit. The family's medical experts found that this resulted in the baby's head and skull being repeatedly crushed and compressed with every contraction.
The child's parents never consented or agreed to the midwife, Londergan, sharing private information about their child.
The first trial ended in a mistrial in early September due to legal technicalities.
** The lawsuit and visuals for media use can be found HERE **
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Tom Bosworth of Bosworth Law focuses on representing catastrophic injury victims, representing those harmed by dangerous consumer products, dangerous medical devices, medical malpractice, and more. In 2022 he became the youngest attorney in Pennsylvania history to obtain a verdict greater than $10 million for a living patient in a medical malpractice case.
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SOURCE: Bosworth Law
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Miami Herald
4 hours ago
- Miami Herald
A Neurologist and a Mom Join Forces: the Real-World Evidence in the Fight for NurOwn's Approval for People with ALS
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This 309-page legal document seeks accelerated approval of NurOwn based on powerful survival and respiratory data, along with real-world evidence from the now-unblinded trial participants. The Citizens' Petition relies upon the promise of the 21st Century Cures Act, wherein Congress encouraged the FDA to use real-world evidence and patient experiences - data from actual patients like Kade and the EAP participants. In 100% terminal and heterogeneous rare diseases, every story matters and every type of evidence matters. When the trial was unblinded after the Advisory Committee meeting, I was not surprised to learn that - almost without exception - every one of my patients accurately predicted if they received NurOwn or placebo. As the Citizens' Petition states: "When people are dying, they know when a drug helps them live. When people are becoming paralyzed, they know when a drug helps them move again. 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On pages 29-32, the Petition reports that the median lifespan for people with bulbar onset is approximately 2 years from symptom onset and 1.5 years from diagnosis. This is consistent with my professional experience. The Petition reports that NurOwn recipients who had bulbar onset lived approximately 3.5 years longer than the median in ALS natural history. Applying these above peer-reviewed criteria to Kade, I can confirm, as Kade's treating neurologist, that: Kade Lived "trach-free" 78 months (6.5 years) from symptom onset vs. the 2-year average for bulbar onsetKade's progression slowed from more than 1 point per month on the ALSFRS-R down to 0.16 points per monthKade chose not to use a bi-pap to breathe and thus at the time of his death (68 months from diagnosis), Kade's time-to-NIV dwarfed the ALS natural history of 15 months for fast progressors and the 13.5 months for people with bulbar onset. As Kade's treating neurologist, these data align with the Public Comment that I submitted in 2023. They also align with Kandy's Public Comment and testimony that she shared at the NurOwn Advisory Committee meeting. These data in the Citizens' Petition further strengthen my expert opinion and resolve that NurOwn helped Kade breathe better and live longer. It is a tragedy unlike anything I have experienced in my career that Kade was denied continued access to the stem cell therapy that was helping him live. Gold Standard Science and Common Sense Support ApprovalI am heartened to read that Commissioner Makary is committed to marry gold standard science and common sense. As such, I implore the FDA to consider the new and unprecedented survival and respiratory data that is reasonably likely to predict a clinically meaningful impact. Listen to the opinions of the neurologists who treated the patients. But most of all, listen to the patients. They are the only ones who know what it feels like to die a little more each day. And the new data proves that they were right. They knew when NurOwn helped them live. Thus, substantial evidence supports the approval of NurOwn. Please approve NurOwn with a Phase 4 post-marketing study. Please show my patients with ALS the same compassion and humanity that the Oncology Center of Excellence shows cancer patients. My Promise to KadeToday, with this Press Release, I renew my promise to Kade. As I did during his life, I will continue to do after his death. For whatever number of years God blesses me to continue helping people with ALS, I will move forward with the same resolve that Kade and his family have shown. Please hold space in your heart today for the 26-year-old man with the resolve and courage that I could never fathom rest him. About Danielle Geraldi-Samara, MDFor over 15 years, Dr. Geraldi-Samara has diagnosed and treated people with ALS. She attended medical school at the State University of New York at Syracuse and completed her residency and neuromuscular fellowship at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. With the goal of bringing ALS care closer for local patients, Dr. Geraldi-Samara helped establish an ALS/Neuromuscular clinic from the ground up at NYU-Brooklyn. She also served as a supervising Neuromuscular Specialist at Northwell Health's multidisciplinary ALS clinic in New York. Dr. Geraldi-Samara counts patient relationships as the driving force in her career. Because of the inequity in ALS regulatory policy and law - and Kade's inability to get more of the drug that was helping him live - Dr. Geraldi has resumed her academic career, where she is currently working on a master's degree in bioethics. While continuing her neuromuscular practice, she also wants to work to transform regulatory policy for patients with terminal rare diseases like ALS. About Kandy SimonsKandy Simons is the mother of Kade Simons. She has become a patient advocate to right the wrongs that were inflicted upon her son and her family. She lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with her husband Mitchel Simons as well as her only remaining child, Kruz Simons. About NurOwnDeveloped by Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics, NurOwn is a mesenchymal stem cell therapy marries the restorative powers of stem cells with the regenerative powers of neurotrophic factors. NurOwn is made from your body's own stem cells harvested from a bone marrow aspiration. They are then treated in a lab and supercharged to release neurotrophic factors. Once injected directly into the CSF, your stem cells work like a Fed Ex truck, delivering nano-packages of neurotrophic factors and immunomodulatory cytokines directly to the sites of the motor neurons damaged by ALS. The neurotrophic factors act like "Miracle-Gro" for your neurons. Contact : Danielle Geraldi-Samara, MD(mail to: DGSneuro@ Warack, Esq.(mail to: Veterans4NurOwn@ Klingenberg, BSN RN(mail to: NurOwnWorks@ Copy of Citizens' Petition and Exhibits Filed with the FDA:Join Dr. Geraldi, Kandy Simons and many others in urging the FDA to approve NurOwn for people with ALS. The 309-page Citizens' Petition includes the data supporting approval as well as easy-to-read charts and graphs that show how NurOwn extended lifespan and improved function for people with ALS. You can see the data and graphics, as well as Petitioners' stories at: SOURCE: NurOwn Citizen's Petition
CBS News
12 hours ago
- CBS News
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Washington Post
12 hours ago
- Washington Post
Paul George has arthroscopic knee surgery after recent workout injury
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